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TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE 
IN THE CHICAGO SCHOOLS 



THE UNIVERSITY OP CHIOA&O PBESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



Bgcnts 

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY 

NEW YORK 

THE CUNNINGHAM, CURTISS & WELCH COMPANY 

LOS ANaELES 



THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LONDON AND EDINBURGH 

THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI 

THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY 

SUANeHAI 

KARLW. HIERSEMANN 

LEIPZia 



i 



TRUANCY 
AND NON-ATTENDANCE 

IN THE 

CHICAGO SCHOOLS 

A STUDY OF THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE COM- 
PULSORY EDUCATION AND CHILD LABOR 
LEGISLATION OF ILLINOIS 



By 
Edith Abbott, Ph.D. 

AND 

SoPHONisBA P. Breckinridge, Ph.D. 

Members of the Faculty of the Uni-versity of Chicago and of the 

Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy 

Authors of '■^ The Delinquent Child and the Home''' 




THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



te 






Copyright 1917 By 
The University of Chicago 



All Rights Reserved 



Published January 1917 



3U^f7 



Composed and Printed By 

The University of Chicago Press 

Chlcaeo, Illinois, U.S.A. 



'CLA453876 






TO 

JANE ADDAMS 

GUIDE AND FRIEND 



PREFACE 

This study of the truant and non-attending school children 
of Chicago was begun as a continuation of an inquiry into the 
care of the wards of the Juvenile Court of Cook County, which 
we undertook some years ago in the Department of Social 
Investigation of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. 
A study of the delinquent children of the court was published 
four years ago' and it was planned to follow that volume with 
similar studies of the truant and the dependent children who 
also come before the Chicago Court. 

The present volume, however, has taken us beyond the 
juvenile court children with whom we began. A study of 
truant children, which was planned as the second volume in a 
juvenile court series, led us into the larger problem of school 
attendance, for it was apparent that a study of truancy would 
be of little value without an inquiry into the broader questions 
of non-attendance during the compulsory-attendance period and 
the enforcement of the child labor laws which should protect 
the children who are near the age when the required period of 
school attendance comes to an end. 

Thirty-three years have passed since the principle of com- 
pulsory school attendance was adopted in the state of Illinois 
by the passing of the first "Act to secure to children the benefit 
of an elementary education." The following chapters show 
how slow we were to adopt this principle and how reluctantly, 
after it was adopted, the local educational authorities of the 
various cities, towns, and counties to whom its enforcement was 

' See The Delmquent Child and the Home: A Study of the Delinquent 
Wards of the Juvenile Court of Chicago, New York, Russell Sage Foun- 
dation, 191 2. 



viii PREFACE 

intrusted, proceeded to act under it. Experience has taught us 
that almost any form of social legislation that is left to be 
enforced by a multitude of independent local authorities will be 
brought slowly to its promised usefulness. Unfortunately it 
was not possible for us to extend our study far beyond the limits 
of Chicago. Chaps, xvii and xviii, however, throw some light 
on the present compulsory-attendance situation throughout 
the state and raise once again the question whether a state 
educational authority— commission or bureau — should not be 
created with the power of supervising the work of the local 
authorities in the enforcement of the state school laws. 

Some criticism may fall to our lot because we have ventured 
to write of educational matters connected with the Chicago 
public-school system when we have never had any connection 
with the Chicago schools. Our excuse must be that such a 
book obviously could not be written by those inside the school 
system. A further excuse which should perhaps be offered is 
that for nearly a decade we have been closely connected with the 
social agencies of Chicago and that this study deals only with 
the social aspects of school problems. It is our belief that there 
should be a closer co-operation between the schools and those 
who call themselves "social workers" in all our large cities; for, 
after all, the teachers in our elementary schools should form the 
largest body of social workers in every depressed and congested 
district where there is a field for social work. 

In the course of collecting material for this inquiry we have 
incurred many obligations which we can acknowledge only col- 
lectively. To the members of the Chicago school system, the 
Department of Compulsory Education, the Chicago Parental 
School, and the Chicago Juvenile Court we are greatly indebted 
for information cheerfully given in response to many tedious 
inquiries. It is a pleasure to express here our deep apprecia- 
tion of the generous co-operation which was given by Judge 
Merritt W. Pinckney, of the Chicago Juvenile Court, and by 



PREFACE ix 

Mrs. Ella Flagg Young, who for five years, never to be forgotten 
by those interested in educational progress, was superintendent 
of the Chicago public schools. Although they had no part in 
suggesting, planning, or directing this inquiry, they both wel- 
comed any attempt, honestly made, to obtain information 
regarding the working of the great institutions which are main- 
tained for the poorest and most friendless of the children of 
Chicago. 

We must also express our appreciation to our friend and 
former colleague at Hull-House and the School of Civics and 
Philanthropy^ Miss Julia C. Lathrop, now chief of the Federal 
Children's Bureau. Miss Lathrop read the entire manuscript, 
and we are indebted to her for valuable suggestions. It is 
scarcely necessary to say, however, that no one of the persons 
mentioned has the smallest responsibility for any of the opinions 
expressed in these pa.ges. 

To our friends in the social agencies of Chicago, especially 
the Immigrants' Protective League, the Vocational Supervision 
Bureau, the Juvenile Protective Association, and the United 
Charities, we are deeply indebted. Through their experience, 
working as they do day after day and year after year with the 
families of the children that the compulsory education and 
child labor laws were designed to protect, they have an invalu- 
able store of information regarding the administration of 
these laws, and this experience they have generously shared 
with us. 

It is a pleasure to explain that this study, like the earlier 
juvenile court investigation, has been carried on with the 
assistance of students in the Department of Social Investiga- 
tion of the School of Civics and Philanthropy. It is unfortu- 
nately not possible to mention by name all the students who 
have had some share in the work. Special acknowledgment 
must, however, be made of the work of Miss Grace P. Norton 
(now Mrs. Lorenz), Miss Natalie Walker, Miss Margaret Hobbs, 



X PREFACE 

Miss Helen Campbell, and Miss Fanny R. Sweeny (now Mrs. 
Wickes). We are also indebted to Miss Maud E. Lavery, of 
the School of Civics and Philanthropy, for assistance of many 
kinds. Finally, we must record our appreciation of the help 
given by the Russell Sage Foundation, which generously supplied 
the funds necessary for the carrying out of this inquiry. 

Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy 
November 23, 1916 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PART ONE: LEGAL PRINCIPLES: HISTORY OF COMPULSORY 
EDUCATION LEGISLATION IN ILLINOIS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Legal Aspects oe Compulsory Education Legisla- 
tion I 

11. History oe Compulsory Education Legislation 
IN Illinois: The Struggle for a Free School 
System, 1818-55 ^7 

III. The Struggle for a Compulsory Attendance Law 

in Illinois, 1855-83 40 

IV. The Growth of the Compulsory System, 1883-99 • 53 

V. Parallel Development of the Illinois Child 
Labor and Compulsory Education Laws, 1893- 
1916 69 



PART TWO: PRESENT CONDITIONS AND METHODS OF 
TREATMENT 

VI. Extent of Truancy and Non-Attendance in 
Chicago: A Study of the Attendance Records 
OF Nine Selected Schools 89 

VII. The Transfer System as a Factor in Non-Attend- 
ance lOI 

VIII. A Detailed Study of the Extent of Non-Attend- 
ance in Two Selected Schools 114 

IX. Non-Attendance at the Source ......128 

X. The Habitual Truant and the Schoolroom Incor- 
rigible 148 

xi 



xu TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XL The Parental School 165 

XII. Truancy and Non- Attendance in Relation to 
Mental and Physical Defects of School Chil- 
dren 177 

XIII. Truancy in Relation to Dependency and Delin- 

quency 189 

XIV. Enforcement of the Compulsory Education Law 

IN THE Municipal Court of Chicago .... 200 

XV. The School Census as a Means of Enforcing the 

Attendance Law 211 

XVI. The Visiting Teacher as a Remedy for Truancy 

AND Non- Attendance 226 

XVII. The Truancy Problem in the Chicago Suburbs and 

IN Other Parts of Illinois 245 

XVIII. The Special Problem of the Immigrant Child . 264 

XIX. The Employment Certificate System and the Safe- 
guarding OF THE Compulsory Attendance 
Period 287 

XX. The Need of Compulsory Education for Children 

BETWEEN Fourteen and Sixteen Years of Age . 317 

XXI. Summary and Conclusions 346 

LIST OF APPENDIXES 

APPENDIX 

I. Extracts from Documents Relating to the Agita- 
tion FOR A System of Free Schools and a Com- 
pulsory Attendance Law 354 

II. Extracts from Publications of the Board of Edu- 
cation Relating to the Compulsory Education 
Problem in Chicago 389 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xm 

APPE>fDIX PAGE 

III. Documents Relating to the Enforcement of Child 

Labor and Compulsory Education Laws in Illinois 402 
Extracts from the first four annual reports of the Factory 
Inspectors of Illinois 

IV. Early Laws of the State of Illinois Relating to the 

Establishment of Free Schools, Compulsory Edu- 
cation, AND Child Labor 431 

V. Table Showing in Parallel Columns the Develop- 
ment OF THE Compulsory Education and Child 
Labor Laws of Illinois, 1870-1916 440 

VI. A Note on Statistics Relating to School Attend- 
ance IN Chicago 447 

VII. The Development of the Chicago Bureau of Em- 
ployment Supervision 455 

Index 467 



PART I 

LEGAL PRINCIPLES: HISTORY OF COMPULSORY 
EDUCATION LEGISLATION IN ILLINOIS 



CHAPTER I 

LEGAL ASPECTS OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION LEGISLATION 

Many questions of interest suggest themselves in connec- 
tion with the attempt of the community to provide educational 
opportunities for all the children and to insure to all the children 
the enjoyment of those opportunities. First, perhaps, should 
be considered the question of the agency by which such pro- 
vision should be made. Should this be done by the federal 
government or by the forty-eight different state governments ? 

The problem of the education of the people in the ele- 
mentary branches is essentially a national problem which 
should be looked at from a national point of view. As a 
result of the ease of migration in America and of the mobility 
of labor required under our present industrial conditions, the 
probability of a person's spending his later life in the place 
in which he spends his childhood is very slight. Nor is there 
any possible way of forecasting his movements. A minimum 
standard of education becomes, then, a matter of concern to 
the entire country, any portion of which may suffer from the 
burden of inadequate training and consequent industrial and 
civic inefSciency. This general concern has been registered in 
the grants by the federal government of public land for edu- 
cational purposes, and all questions relating to education should, 
in fact, also be regarded from a national point of view. This 
is, however, impossible under our constitutional limitations, 
and our federal government' confines its activities in the field 
of education, except in the matter of land grants, to the collection 

' Except, of course, in those jurisdictions over which the federal 
government exercises direct governmental control, as in the District of 
Columbia. 



2 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

and the publication of educational material' and to grants 
in aid of special forms of education, as for example, mechanical, 
agricultural, or vocational training. Under our American sys- 
tem, therefore, the control over education is left to the juris- 
diction of forty-eight different state governments. The result 
of this has been, of course, lack of uniformity with regard to 
every question of educational policy, irregular and halting 
progress, and standards established by the educational author- 
ities which vary from state to state.^ So universal, however, is 
the interest in this subject, so widespread the belief in its 
importance, that the expenditures for the support of the state 
educational systems amount to very large sums. The Com- 
missioner of Education, for example, reports that in a single 
year^ the value of the common-school property in the various 
states amounted to $1,266,382,277, while the expenditure 
reached the sum of $482,886,793, the number of teachers 
employed 547,289, and the enrolment in public elementary 
schools 17,077,577. The corresponding figures for Illinois show 
that the value of school property and school funds amounted to 
$110,860,023 and the expenditure amounted to $34,217,582. 
The number of teachers was 30,473 and the public-school enrol- 
ment 912,811.4 

Another question relating to the agency which should pro- 
vide educational facilities for the people, and one which has 

' See the annual reports of the Commissioner of Education. This is, 
of course, an incomplete statement, if agricultural and mechanical edu- 
cation under special acts of Congress be recalled. See, for example, the 
so-called Smith-Lever bill (Annual Report of the U.S. Commissioner of 
Education, 1914, I, 296). It is, however, substantially true with reference 
to the provision of general educational opportunity. 

^ Note the varying expressions with regard to private schools cited 
below, p. 4. 

3 See Annual Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1913, II, 
17 ff. 

'' Ibid., p. 20. There was an estimated enrolment of 193,734 in private 
schools that year. 



LEGAL ASPECTS OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION 3 

been the subject of bitter controversy in other countries, is 
that of the relative claims of the church and the state to make 
such provision. In the United States, the issue has not in 
general been drawn between the claims of the church on the 
one hand and of private initiative of a non-ecclesiastical char- 
acter on the other; or between the church with its spiritual 
sanction and the state with its organization of compulsion, as 
it was drawn in England during the first three-quarters of the 
nineteenth century, when the church retained the right to 
control the form of educational organization and the state only 
gradually and almpst surreptitiously assumed the power first 
to standardize and then directly to organize the school system/ 
It is interesting to recall the fact that, in England, efforts to 
develop a system of public education were opposed by those 
jealous of the prerogatives of the church on the one hand and by 
those who feared that the results of bureaucratic organization 
would be to replace by monotony, uniformity, and medioc- 
rity the variety, initiative, and freedom which should char- 
acterize hberal education. John Stuart Mill, for example, 
wrote that a "general state education is a mere contrivance 
for moulding people to be exactly like one another. "^ 

Although the issue has never been drawn in this way in the 
United States and although the organization of a public system 
of education has from the earliest settlement of the country 
been regarded as a proper exercise of governmental power, the 
government has never attempted to monopolize that function 

' A review of the development of the free compulsory school systems 
in other countries is beyond the scope of this study. For a general survey 
of these systems, see DeMontmorency, State Intervention in English Edu- 
cation; Balfour, Educational Systems of Great Britain and Ireland; Craik, 
The State in Relation to Education; Munro, Cyclopaedia of Education; 
Parker, History of Modern Elementary Education; Halsbury, The Laws of 
England, Vol. XII. 

* Essay on Liberty. Mill discusses the possibilities of the state's 
requiring but not providing education. 



4 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

or seriously to interfere with the freedom of private education^ 
beyond setting in general terms a minimum of instruction to 
be offered and in some states requiring that instruction to be 
in English. 

This minimum will be found in the provisions for compul- 
sory attendance and is expressed in several ways. Schools 
"taught by competent instructors" are accepted by some states 
for attendance in place of the public schools.^ Instruction 
in "branches usually taught in the public primary schools" 
fulfils the requirement in others.^ Instruction in "approved 
private schools" is the phraseology used in the laws of other 
states.4 In some states, as for example, Massachusetts, the 
statutes prescribe the conditions on which approval may be 
given, namely when all instruction in subjects prescribed by 
law is in the English language and equals in thoroughness and 
efficiency, and in the progress made therein the instruction in 
the public schools in the same place.s 

It is obvious that from the administrative machinery pro- 
vided for the enforcement of compulsory attendance laws, 
devices for standardizing the private, and, in particular, the 
sectarian parochial schools might be developed. This has, 

' Freund, Police Power, sec. 266. 

^ For example, by Colorado, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, and 
Pennsylvania. 

3 California, Connecticut, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New 
York, North Dakota, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota. 

4 Maine and Massachusetts. 

5 The power of "approval" is given to the school committee, i.e., the 
local educational authority. In New York, the six "common school 
branches" are enumerated, viz., reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, 
English grammar, and geography, and the teaching must be substantially 
equivalent to that given to children of like age in the public school, with 
at least as many hours a day and no considerable difference in the number 
of holidays. The records of attendance must be regularly kept and open to 
the inspection of school authorities. Rhode Island has a similar provision. 



LEGAL ASPECTS OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION 5 

however, been found to be a difficult task, and one element in 
that difficulty undoubtedly lies in the fact that education is 
a matter of state rather than federal jurisdiction, and the 
opposition based on sectarian considerations may disguise 
itself in innumerable ways according to the issues presenting 
themselves in the various communities. 

While the development of the American system of public 
education has not been openly resented by the ecclesiastical 
organization as in England, it has yet had two definite, open 
sources of opposition to overcome. The first is the claim of the 
taxpayer not to be compelled to bear the burden of the system 
unless actually sharing directly in the benefit of the system by 
receiving instruction. It will appear, for example, that in 
Illinois, after an unsuccessful attempt had been made in 1825 to 
enable the majority in any school district to tax themselves 
for school purposes, it took thirty years, during which time 
there existed only voluntary provision for those who attended 
voluntarily, to establish the principle that the "property of all 
could be taxed to educate the children of all." 

The right of all children to an education^ has now, however, 
been recognized in Illinois, so that every child may enter school^ 
when he has reached the age of six^ and, except for purposes of 
necessary discipline^ or for the purpose of protecting the school 
against a present menace in the form of contagious disease, 
may not be excluded from a school session,^ which cannot legally 
last less than six months.^ 

' Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 122, sec. 114, par. 9. 
" Regardless of color. See People v. Board of Education of Quincy, 
loi Illinois 308. 

3 Board of Education v. Bolton, 85 Illinois Appellate 92. 
'^School Directors v. Breen, 60 Illinois Appellate 201; 167 Illinois 67; 
Thompson v. Beaver, 63 Illinois 353; Riilison v. Post, 79 Illinois 567. 
s People V. Chicago Board of Education, 234 Illinois 422. 
* Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 122, sec. 274. 



6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The second source of opposition was found in the doubt as 
to the power of the state to interfere with the parental right of 
the father to determine the amount as well as the kind of edu- 
cation his children should have.'' One of the most important 
rights assured the parent under the common law was that of 
directing the education of his child.^ The parent was likewise 
supposed to be under a duty to educate his child, but this was 
only a moral duty ,3 unenforced by any sanction, and, in the 
absence of public provision or free religious provision, unen- 
forceable with regard to the poor parent. Moreover, for the 
poor at earlier periods, education was sometimes related to the 
child's apprenticeship, and the father, with the right to direct 
his education, enjoyed likewise the right to place his child 
at work and to appropriate his earnings. In order to state 
the situation clearly, the fact may be recalled that the father 
at common law was entitled to the custody and the control of 
the child's person with the right to appropriate the child's earn- 
ings. The corollary to this right was an alleged duty to main- 
tain, to protect, and to educate.^ The duty to maintain was so 
slightly enforced, however, as to give rise to a question as to its 
very existence ;s the duty to protect gave rise merely to certain 
legal defenses, while the duty to educate was declared by Black- 
stone to be a natural and not a legal duty. So long, therefore, 
as the community merely provides facilities for public education 

' On this point see Mill's interesting statement in the Essay on Liberty. 

^ Freund, op. cit., sec. 264; Blackstone's Commentaries, Book I, chap, 
xvi, "Parent and Child"; Halsbury, The Laws of England, Vol. 17, article 
on "Infants and Children." 

^Hodges V. Hodges (1796), Peake's Add. Cas. 79; cited Halsbury, op. 
cit., Vol. 12, p. 4. 

4 Blackstone's Commentaries, Book I, chap. xvi. The mother shares 
these rights under the so-called co-guardianship laws. See, for example, 
Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 64, sec. 4. 

5 Breckinridge and Abbott, The Delinquent Child and the Home, Ap- 
pendix, p. 183; Garnett, Children and the Law, p. 30. 



LEGAL ASPECTS OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION 7 

it is only aiding the parent in the performance of his natural 
duty. A further step is taken when, in addition to providing 
facilities of which the parent is willing to take advantage for the 
sake of his children, new duties are imposed on parents with 
reference to the care and education of their children. The 
right of the legislature to impose such new duties has been 
exercised, for example in Illinois, in the rapidly increasing body 
of statutes prohibiting cruelty to children,^ defining depend- 
ency and dehnquency,^ giving to the courts power to separate 
children from their parents when the good of the children 
demands such separation,^ punishing parents who contribute 
to the dependency or delinquency of their children,^ requiring 
parents to support their children,^ prohibiting the employment 
of young children,^ and requiring the parents to secure the 
attendance of their children at school.^ Questions have been 
raised as to the power of the legislature to impose upon parents 

^Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 38, sec. 53. 

^ Ibid., chap. 23, sec. 169 fol. '* Ibid., chap. 64, sec. 24. 

^ Ibid., chap. 38, sec. 42 hb. ^Ibid., chap. 48, sec. 20. 

^ Concerning the very modern character of these duties, the following 
statement by Mr. Sidney Webb in an early issue of the Crusade may be 
noted: "We must take note in passing, that any such notion as enforcing 
parental responsibility is an entirely new thing. Speaking not pedantically 
as a lawyer, but broadly as a historian, it is an innovation of the past half- 
century — ahnost, we may say, of the present generation. Our ancestors 
never thought of enforcing parental responsibility. A hundred years ago, 
if a father left his children half-starved, scantily clothed in rags, with the 
most miserable lodgings, overcrowded and indecently occupied, with every 
kind of insanitation, so long as the parish was put to no expense, no one 
took proceedings against him. Cruelty to animals was made an offense 
long before cruelty to children. There was no attempt to constrain a 
parent to keep the child in health, to provide medical attendance for it, to 
supply education or moral training — least of all any idea of enforcing upon 
the parent any fulfilment of the obligation to furnish the all-important 
environment of a decent home. With the not very real exception that 
doing a child to death too suddenly might (we may almost say theoretically) 
be treated as murder, there was, a hundred years ago, so far as regards 
children in their parents' own homes, nothing Ln the way of enforcement 
of parental responsibility." 



8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

these new duties, but the courts have been unanimous in hold- 
ing that one of the highest prerogatives of the state is its right 
gradually to raise the standard of parental care.' 

So far the question has been raised before the courts in 
relation to compulsory attendance only in connection with pro- 
visions for fining parents who do not send their children to school. 
The question of the power to separate parent and child on the 
ground of truancy has not yet been considered by any court. 
The right has been upheld in the case of delinquent and depend- 
ent children; but the right is not so clear when the child is only 
truant, not delinquent, and when the parents, while faihng to 
secure their children's attendance, do not maintain homes 
sufficiently below normal to justify finding the children depend- 
ent. On this point Professor Freund in his treatise on the 
Police Power' says that "the commitment of the child is a 
measure taken against the child for the child's misconduct 

^School Board for London v. Jackson, L.R., 7 Q.B.D. 502 (1881); 
State V. Bailey, 157 Ind. 324 (1902): " The natural rights of a parent to the 
custody and control of his infant child are subordinate to the power of 
the state, and may be restricted and regulated by municipal laws. One 
of the most important natural duties of the parent is to educate his child 
and this duty he owes not to the child only but to the community. If he 
neglects to perform it or wilfully refuses to do so, he may be coerced by 
laws to execute such civil obligation. The welfare of the child and the best 
interests of society require that the state shall exercise its sovereign authority 
to secure to the child the opportunity to acquire an education. Statutes 
making it compulsory upon the parent, guardian or the person having the 
custody and control of children to send them to public or private schools 
for longer or shorter periods during certain years of the life of such children, 
have not only been upheld as strictly within the power of the legislature, 
but have generally been regarded as necessary to carry out the express pur- 
poses of the constitution itself" (p. 329). See also State v. Clatter, 33 
Ind. 409 at p. 411; Btirdick v. Babcock, 36 Iowa 562 at p. 566; also 
Washington V. Cozwior/, 69 Washington 361; 4iL.R.A.n.s.,p.95; Hochheimer, 
Custody of Infants, sec. 79. See also The Delinquent Child and the Home, 
Appendix, p. 181. 

= Sec. 265. 



LEGAL ASPECTS OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION 9 

(truancy) and that the parent is deprived of custody is an 
inevitable incident to such a measure, just as a child may be 
deprived of parental care while a parent is imprisoned." Since, 
however, there is a doubt on this point and since there is a grow- 
ing belief in the importance to the state of protecting the child 
in opposition, if need be, to the wishes of the parents, the decision 
of a test-case is likely to be more favorable to the child and to 
the community at a later date than at the present time. In the 
apparent conflict of interest between the community and the 
parent with reference to the child's early years, the right of 
the community is being slowly but surely strengthened. The 
education authorities have therefore undoubtedly acted wisely 
in not hastening a decision as to the power to remove the truant 
child from his parents. In the one Chicago case in which a 
parent has resisted the action of the court in committing his 
child and has resorted to the writ of habeas corpus, the educa- 
tional authorities acquiesced and did not take the case to the 
Supreme Court.^ 

From this preliminary discussion it becomes clear that the 
enforcement of attendance at school involves the setting up of 
administrative machinery through which three services will be 
rendered: (i) that of supplying to parents and children infor- 
mation with reference to their duty under the law and due 
notice of failure to perform that duty; (2) that of invoking the 
aid of the appropriate court in the case of wilful and persistent 
refusal on the part of the parent to perform his duty; (3) that 
of enforcing discipline in the case of children whose parents are 
unable to secure their regular attendance and good behavior 
at school. 

' A question which has not been raised, but which Professor Freund 
suggests, is the power to compel the parent to support the child during com- 
mitment to the Parental School. It is submitted that the duty of main- 
tenance formerly unenforceable has now been sanctioned in various ways, 
and that there is no reason why the duty should cease because of default 
on the part of the parent or of the child. 



lo TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

This administrative agency in Chicago is the Compulsory 
Education Department of the Board of Education. The duties 
of the officers in this department are (i) to report all viola- 
tions of the compulsory school law, (2) to enter complaints 
in cases of violation of the law by the parents/ (3) to 
arrest children of school-going age who become habitual 
truants, and to file petitions for commitment to the Parental 
School.^ 

As has been said, however, the duty of securing the child's 
attendance rests primarily upon the parent or the "person 
having control of the child."^ This duty is "annually to cause 
any child between seven and sixteen to attend a public or a 
private school" during the entire session, which must not be 
less than six months. 

The duty is not always perfectly clear since the present 
Illinois statute recognizes as entitled to exemption under the 
law: (i) those children receiving instruction elsewhere in the 
elementary branches by competent persons, (2) those children 
whose physical and mental condition renders their attendance 
impractical or inexpedient, (3) those children who are in the 
words of the statute "excused for temporary absence for cause" 
by the principal or the teacher, and (4) those children between 
fourteen and sixteen years of age who are necessarily and law- 
fully employed during the hours when the school is in session. 
Many difficult questions arise in connection with the statutory 
list of exempt cases. Who is to decide when attendance is 

'■Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 122, sees. 274, 144. It is an interest- 
ing fact that the statute provides for a superintendent of compulsory edu- 
cation, while no statutory provision is made for a superintendent of schools. 
The former is therefore more independent in his relation to the board, which 
neither creates his office nor defines his duties, than the latter whose position 
is wholly a result of board action. 

''Ibid., sees. 145, 146. 

3 Ibid., sec. 275. 



LEGAL ASPECTS OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION ii 

"impractical and inexpedient" because of the mental and 
physical condition of the child ? What constitutes "necessity" 
of employment in the case of the fourteen- or fifteen-year-old 
child? A clear and universally accepted definition of these 
terms is essential to an effective enforcement of the law. And, 
yet, there are at present substantially no general principles 
governing the interpretation of these clauses. 

For a failure, however, to perform the duty of securing the 
attendance of the child who is not exempt, the Illinois Statute 
provides that "the parent is liable to prosecution and shall 
forfeit not less than $5 nor more than $20 (with or without 
costs) and may be committed until payment is made." For 
misstatement as to the age of the child, which the parent 
is under duty to make known correctly, there may also be 
prosecution and imposition of a forfeit of from $3 to 
$20, without commitment. Prosecutions for these offenses 
in those cities in which there is a Municipal Court are 
held before the appropriate branch of that court,' before 
which are also brought non-supporting parents and those 
who contribute to the dependency and delinquency of their 
children. 

The machinery which has been developed in Chicago for 
enforcing the compulsory education law may briefly be described 
as follows: The officers of the Compulsory Education Depart- 
ment are assigned to schools, at which they call periodically for 
reports concerning the attendance of children duly enrolled. 
If they receive from the principals reports of absence or if by 
such other agencies as the United Charities their attention is 
called to the fact that certain children are either not enrolled 
or are irregular in their attendance, notices are sent and visits 
to the homes are made. In 1913-14, for example, 58,064 such 

^Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 37, sec. 265, par. 3, 5. In Chicago 
since April 3, 191 1, these prosecutions are brought before the Court of 
Domestic Relations. 



12 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

absences are reported as having been investigated/ resulting 
in 1,236 warning notices being served on indifferent parents 
liable to prosecution in the Municipal Court, besides 1,139 
notices connected with proposed Juvenile Court action. Of 
the "indifferent parents," 67 were prosecuted. 

In case the real difficulty lies or appears to lie with the child 
or prosecution of the parents seems an inadequate treatment 
of the situation, it becomes the duty of the truant officer, or, 
indeed, of "any reputable citizen" of Chicago to "petition the 
County or Circuit Court to inquire into the care of the child^ 
of school age who has not been attending school or who has 
been guilty of habitual truancy or of wilful violations of the 
rules of the school." If the child is under fourteen years of age 
(and a boy) he may under the statute be sent to the Parental 
School^ to be kept until he reaches that age.'* 

In Cook Countys the court by which these commitments 
are made is the Juvenile Court, which has jurisdiction likewise 

' Sixtieth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago (igij-14), 
p. 406. No explanation of the exact basis on which reports are made to 
the department is given in the report of the superintendent, but in general 
it may be said that when a child has been absent three consecutive days 
without excuse, his absence is reported to the compulsory attendance 
officer in his routine visits to the school. The 58,064 cases reported repre- 
sent then the great mass of absences of children who had already been 
absent three days or more, besides the cases of children discovered on the 
street and returned to school or those reported for action by various chari- 
table agencies dealing with families in distress. No information concern- 
ing them is given in the report of the superintendent. 

^Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 122, sec. 144. 

3 The establishment of parental schools is authorized with vote of the 
people in cities of from 25,000 to 100,000 population. In cities of over that 
number no such vote need be taken. 

^Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 122, sec. 145. The Board of Edu- 
cation has authority, but has never exercised it, to make similar provision 
for girls. 

5 The county in which Chicago is located. 



LEGAL ASPECTS OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION 13 

over dependent and delinquent children. In a single year, for 
example, 826 children are reported by the superintendent of the 
Department of Compulsory Education as having been brought 
into the Juvenile Court. Of these, 424 were committed to the 
Parental School,^ 386 were either released on probation or con- 
tinued, generally pending good behavior, 14 were transferred to 
the dependent docket,^ and 2 dismissed. 

In view of the fact that commitment to the Parental School 
does not yet rest on a clear decision upholding the law, it is 
interesting to notice that the early suggestions for a truant 
police were made rather with the idea of assisting those parents 
who voluntarily enrolled their children to secure regularity of 
attendance than to compel indifferent parents to enrol their 
children. In the same way, the Parental School has been and 
is used as an aid to the parent, who, desiring to have his child 
attend but unable to secure that attendance, consents to his 
commitment, or at least does not resist the action of the court. 

The interests of the Chicago children are better safeguarded 
than are those of children in the outlying parts of the county. 
Prosecutions in the Court of Domestic Relations are possible 
only for children within the city limits. The jurisdiction of the 
Juvenile Court extends, of course, over the whole of Cook 
County, but the Parental School is maintained by the city and 
only city children can be committed there. There are in Cook 
County outside of Chicago 175 school districts, all of which are 
under a duty to appoint truant officers with power to prosecute 
parents in courts of appropriate jurisdiction. But no parental 
school is available for the children who need care and discipline. 

The statement of the terms of the statute and the descrip- 
tion of the machinery which has been elaborated for its enforce- 

' Sixtieth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago (1913-14), 
p. 406. 

^ Under the Juvenile Court act: Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 23, 
sees. 169 fol. 



14 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

ment makes it clear that the enjoyment by the children of that 
minimum of education which the statute has fixed is dependent 
upon many factors. The efiiciency of the Compulsory Edu- 
cation Department is, of course, fundamental; but its effective 
action depends in part, of course, on the intelligence of the judges 
before whom they must bring the parents and children for 
violation of the statute. If, for example, the judge fails to 
realize the importance of securing to the child the right granted 
under the statute, the right maybe substantially done away with. 
Such was the result in an English case in which a parent was 
accused of allowing his little daughter to remain away from 
school without a reasonable excuse when he let her work in 
domestic service instead of sending her to school. The by- 
law required that the parent of every child not less than five 
nor more than thirteen years of age should cause such child to 
attend school unless there should be a reasonable excuse. Three 
reasonable excuses were named in the act, namely, (i) efficient 
instruction elsewhere, (2) sickness or other unavoidable cause, 
(3) no public elementary school within three miles. In this case 
a little twelve-year-old girl who could read and write, the oldest 
of several children, was kept out of school and allowed by her 
parents to take employment as a domestic in another family for 
which she was paid three shillings (75 cents) a week and her 
meals. The parents were sober and hard working and claimed 
that they could earn no more than they were already earning 
and they could not support the other children without the little 
daughter's aid. They claimed that the need constituted a 
"reasonable excuse" under the by-law. The judge, the 
learned Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, said: 

I think the respondent has shown a reasonable excuse within 
the act for the non-attendance of his child at school. It appears 
from the statements in the case that the child has been earning 
money which must have formed a necessary and considerable part 
of the maintenance of the family. She has been discharging the 



LEGAL ASPECTS OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION 15 

honorable duty of helping her parents and, for my own part, before 
I held that these facts did not afford a reasonable excuse for her 
non-attendance at school, I should require to see the very plainest 
words to the contrary in the act. I might add that there is nothing 
I should read with greater reluctance in any act of parliament than 
that a child was bound to postpone the direct necessity of her family 
to the advantage of getting a little more education for herself.^ 

Such a decision would of course give notice to the education 
authorities that it was futile to attempt to protect the interests 
of such children and would render nugatory the entire provision 
enacted for their protection.^ 

Principals and teachers have, of course, a heavy responsi- 
bility laid upon them in the power given them to excuse tempo- 
rary absence for cause, and the machinery will be seen to fail 
sometimes because of inadequate provision for testing the child's 
mental powers and for removing mental or physical handicaps 
which make attendance impractical or inexpedient. Adequacy 
of provision for the treatment of children whose homes are unfit 
and whose parents are incompetent and the responsiveness of 
parents to the community efforts in behalf of their children — 
these and many other factors enter into the question and 
determine the manner of its solution. 

' London School Board v. Duggan, 13 Q.B.D. 176. 

^ The following statement made by the New York State Education 
Department with reference to the enforcement of the compulsory school 
law in that state has significance in this connection. The italics are ours: 
"From all this, it should not be inferred that substantial advance is not 
being made from year to year in a better compliance with the requirements 
of this statute throughout the state. School authorities, teachers, attend- 
ance officers, and others are securing compliance with the law pretty well 
and often in spite of the weakness of the courts. With the steady increase 
in public sentiment in favor of a proper enforcement of the law, the time 
is not far distant when delinquent judges will find that it will he not only 
unpopular but dangerous to fail to protect children in their legal rights under 
this statute." — Eighth Anmial Report of the Education Department of the 
State of New York (1912), p. 333. 



1 6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

In the following chapters an attempt will be made to review 
the history of the Illinois legislation by which the rights of 
children and the duties of parents have been formulated. Facts 
will be presented with reference to the present extent and the 
apparent causes of truancy and non-attendance in Chicago. It 
is believed that such an examination is necessary in order to 
determine the adequacy of the present law and its administra- 
tion; and it is hoped that such an inquiry may serve as a basis 
for suggestions of necessary modifications in the machinery for 
dealing with the truant child or the recalcitrant parent. 



CHAPTER II 

THE HISTORY OF THE COMPULSORY EDUCATION LEGIS- 
LATION IN ILLINOIS: THE STRUGGLE FOR A FREE 
SCHOOL SYSTEM, 1818-55 

No history of compulsory education legislation can ignore 
the long preliminary struggle for the establishment of a free 
school system; for it was, of course, impossible in America to 
think of making education compulsory before it became free. 
The history of the growth of the free compulsory system in 
Illinois is of more than local interest; for Illinois is the largest 
state in the middle western group, and the course of develop- 
ment of such legislation in Illinois has been determined by con- 
ditions similar to those existing in many other states. 

An account of the establishment of a free compulsory edu- 
cational system in this state may be divided into three periods: 
(i) the period of the struggle for the ''free" principle — from 
the year 1818, when Illinois was admitted to statehood, to the 
year 1855, when the principle of taxation for the support of free 
common schools was accepted in the free school law of that 
year; (2) the period of struggle for the compulsory principle — 
from the year 1855 to the year 1883, when the first compulsory 
law was passed; (3) the period of struggle for the perfection 
of the compulsory law, a struggle which has been going on ever 
since the passage of the first compulsory law in 1883 but which 
entered upon a new phase, which should perhaps be designated 
as a fourth "period," when preventive legislation, such as child 
labor and juvenile court laws, began to supplement the com- 
pulsory laws that could not become effective without such 
supplementary statutes. 

17 



1 8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Theories of the necessity for universal education as the 
basis of successful democratic government were not easily put 
into operation in the frontier states. It should not be over- 
looked that when Illinois became a state these theories had not 
been reduced to practice anywhere, although the "Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts" had made a most commendable 
beginning. In an excellent summary of his chapter on "The 
Common School in the First Half Century," Professor McMaster 
says. 

When John Quincy Adams took the oath of ofi&ce .... the 
common school did not exist as an American institution. In some 
states it was slowly struggling into existence; in others it was quite 
unknown. Here, the maintenance was voluntary. There, free 
education was limited to children of paupers or of parents too poor 
to educate their sons and daughters at their own expense. Else- 
where, state aid was coupled with local taxation. Scarcely any- 
where did the common school system really flourish. Parents were 
indifferent. Teachers as a class were ill fitted for the work before 
them, and many a plan which seemed most promising as displayed 
in the laws accomplished little for the children of the state. ^ 

The almost desperate struggle for the bare necessities of life 
together with the difficulties of organizing an educational system 
in an undeveloped agricultural state proved to be almost insur- 
mountable in a great state like IlKnois with a territory of over 
fifty-six thousand square miles. The perplexing problems that 
arose in connection with the organization of the government of 
the new state, as well as pressing political questions relating to 
slavery and to internal improvements, absorbed the time and 
the energy required for the establishment of a state-provided 
free school system. Moreover, a large proportion of the pioneer 
settlers of this state had emigrated from Pennsylvania, Louisiana, 

' History of the American People, Vol. V, chap, xlix, "The Common 
School in the First Half Century," p. 343. 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 19 

and Kentucky — states in which the principle of universal edu- 
cation through public schools had not yet been established. 

In its origin, the Illinois free school system may be said 
to go back to the ordinance of 1785, which provided that in the 
Northwest Territory, the great public domain from which 
Illinois and the other "North-Central" states were created, 
the sixteenth section (one square mile) of every township should 
be set aside for the support of public schools in the township/ 
An earlier draft of the ordinance, which also made provision for 
the support of religion, had provided that "there shall be 
reserved the central section of every township for the mainte- 
nance of public schools; and the section immediately adjoining 
the same to the northward, for the support of religion. The 
profits arising therefrom in both instances, to be applied forever 
according to the will of the majority of the male residents of 
fuU age within the same." But Congress refused to assent to 
the reservation for religion and refused also to pass an amend- 
ment making the reservation "for charitable uses,"^ so that 
in the end education alone was provided for. 

Bancroft, commenting on this legislation in his History of 
the Constitution, says, 

It was a land law for a people going forth to take possession of 
a seemingly endless domain. Its division was to be into townships, 
with a perpetual reservation of one mile square in every township 
for the support of religion, and another part for education. The 
House refused its assent to the reservation for the support of reli- 
gion, as connecting the church with the state; but the reservation 
for the support of schools received a general welcome.^ 

' In the final draft of the ordinance, the provision was: "There shall 
be reserved the lot No. 16 of every township, for the maintenance of public 
schools within the said township." — Journal of Congress (Philadelphia, 
1801), Vol. 10, p. 21. 

^ Ibid., Vol. 10, pp. 96-98. 

' History of the Constitution of the United States, p. 134. 



20 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Later the ordinance of 1787 contained the well-known 
declaration that "religion, morality and knowledge being 
necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, 
schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged."^ 
It is, however, interesting to note that these grants for schools 
were due not wholly to a noble solicitude for education but in 
part to a belief that if provision were made for schools people 
would remove more readily into a new territory and the public 
lands would therefore be more salable.^ 

The territorial legislature of Illinois passed no laws relating 
to education, and the subject was not mentioned in the first 
constitution of the state, that of 1818. But in the same year 
the act of Congress that had provided for the admission of 
Illinois as a state contained two provisions regarding educa- 
tion. These provisions of the so-called "enabling act" were as 
follows: 

1. That section numbered sixteen, in every township, and when 
such section has been sold or otherwise disposed of, other lands 
equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted 
to the State, for the use of the inhabitants of such township, for the 
use of the schools. 

2. That five per cent of the net proceeds of the lands lying within 
such State, and which shall be sold by Congress, from and after the 
first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, after 
deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be reserved for the 
purposes following, viz., two-fifths to be disbursed, under the direc- 
tion of Congress, in making roads leading to the State; the residue 
to be appropriated by the Legislature of the State, for the encourage- 
ment of learning, of which one-sLxth part shall be exclusively bestowed 
on a college or university.^ 

' Ordinance of 1787, Art. III. 

2 See George W. Knight, Land Grants for Education in the Northwest 
Territory (New York and London, 1885), pp. 13-15. 

3 Sees. I and 3 in the "Act to Enable the people of Illinois Territory 
to form a Constitution and State Government" (April 18, 18 18) in General 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 21 

Although no attempt will be made to review the history of 
these famous educational land grants, it should be noted that 
the school lands were unfortunately not valuable enough to 
bring in any income during the early years when public lands 
were still available for new settlers; the short-sighted policy of 
the wasteful management and sale of these lands which was 
adopted by Illinois as by other new states in the hope of getting 
an immediate return, produced funds utterly inadequate even 
for the poorest sort of schools.^ It therefore soon became 

Public Ads of Congress Respecting the Sale and Disposition of the Public 
Lands (Washington, D.C., 1838), Vol. I, p. 301. 

This second provision was an amendment to the original enabling act, 
and was due to the efforts of the territorial representative in Congress, 
Nathaniel Pope. See Annals of Congress, ist Session, Vol. II, p. 1677 
(H. of R., April 4, 1818) for the following account: "Mr. Pope then moved 
further to amend the bill, by striking out that part which appropriated the 
State's proportion of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands to the 
construction of roads and canals in said State, and to insert the following: 
'For the purposes following, viz., two-fifths to be disbursed, under the 
direction of Congress, in making roads leading to the State; the residue to 
be appropriated by the Legislature of the State for the encouragement of 
learning, of which one .... part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college 
or university.' 

"Mr. P. said, that the funds proposed to be applied for the encourage- 
ment of learning had, in the other new states, been devoted to roads; but 
its application had, it was believed, not been productive of the good antici- 
pated; on the contrary, it had been exhausted on local and neighbor- 
hood objects, by its distribution among the counties, according to their 
respective representation in the Legislature. The importance of education 
in a Republic, he said, was universally acknowledged; and that no active 
fund would be provided in a new state, the history of the Western States 
too clearly proved." 

' It is of interest that Dr. Knight, in the excellent monograph already 
referred to, maintains that in spite of the fact that the school lands were so 
wastefuUy disposed of, yet the grants did much to "promote the cause of 
education." He maintains that "perhaps the greatest benefit rendered 
by the funds has been in fostering among the people a desire for good schools. 
Without the land grants, the burden of maintaining free schools would 



22 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

apparent that the only method of providing for education was 
that of taxation, a method stubbornly resisted by the great 
majority of the new settlers,many of whom were desperately poor. 

As early as 1825 the Illinois legislature had passed an act 
providing for a school system supported by public taxation, 
but in passing the law the legislature had taken a step that was 
a generation in advance of public sentiment; and, according to 
Governor Thomas Ford, the very idea of a tax was "so hate- 
ful" that the act was "the subject of much clamorous opposi- 
tion." "The people," he said, "preferred to pay all that was 
necessary for the tuition of their children or to keep them in 
ignorance rather than submit to the mere name of a tax by 
which their wealthier neighbors bore the brunt of the expense 
of their education." 

This advanced law of 1825, which was entitled, "An Act 
providing for the establishment of free schools," is so interesting 
that the preamble and part of the first section are quoted at 
length: 

To enjoy our rights and liberties [the preamble stated] we must 
understand them; their security and protection ought to be the first 
object of a free people; and it is a well-established fact that no nation 
has ever continued long in the enjoyment of civil and political free- 
dom, which was not virtuous and enlightened; and believing that 

have seemed oppressive to the new state, but aided by the income of the 
funds, the people have grown into a habit of taxing themselves heavily for 
the support of education. Thus the funds have made possible a system 
of education which without them it would have been impossible to estab- 
lish." — Knight, op. cit., pp. 166-67. It should perhaps be noted here that 
there are seven different educational "funds" in Illinois: (i) the township 
fund; (2) the seminary fund; (3) the school fund proper; (4) the college 
fund; (s) the industrial university fund; (6) the surplus revenue fund; 
(7) the county fund. See John W. Cook, Educational History of Illinois, 
p. 71, and "Sketch of the Permanent Public School Funds of Illinois" in 
Fourteenth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 
Illinois (1881-82). p. cxx. 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 23 

the advancement of literature always has been and ever will be the 
means of developing more fully the rights of man, that the mind of 
every citizen in a republic, is the common property of society, and 
constitutes the basis of its strength and happiness; it is therefore 
considered the peculiar duty of a free government, like ours, to 
encourage and extend the improvement and cultivation of the intel- 
lectual energies of the whole. 

And the first section of the statute provided that 

There shall be established a common school or schools in each 
of the counties of this state, which shall be open and free to every 
class of white citizens, between the ages of five and twenty-one years 
of age. 

The legislature boldly assumed that if education were 
essential the people would be willing to tax themselves to pro- 
vide it, since in no other way could the necessary funds be 
obtained. But in providing that a majority of the voters in 
any district might decide on the levy of a general property tax 
to provide for the support of the common schools of that dis- 
trict, the legislature had attempted to establish a principle 
which the people of Illinois were not ready to accept in the year 
1825. The law was the object of such bitter opposition that 
it was promptly repealed by the next legislature, and a period 
of more than a quarter of a century elapsed before the repre- 
sentatives of the people could be persuaded to make any pro- 
vision for tax-supported schools. 

In interesting contrast to our present school law, which 
requires that all children within specified ages must be sent to 
school, the early law of 1825 merely provided for an annual 
report of the number of children living in each school district 
and ''what number of them are actually sent to school." 
Contrary also to present practice, the law penalized not the 
parents of children who did not go to school but the parents of 
those who did. Thus the law provided that the work of build- 
ing or repairing schoolhouses and furnishing the schoolhouses 



24 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

''with fire and wood and furniture" should fall upon everyone 
who had the care of a child between five and twenty-one, pro- 
vided such child attended school "for the purpose of obtaining 
instruction." 

It has been said that the obnoxious provisions of this law 
were promptly repealed. Early in the year 1827 the succeed- 
ing legislature wiped out the essential principle of the free 
school law of 1825 by an amendment which provided that no 
person should be taxed for the support of a free school except 
by his own consent "obtained in writing," a provision that 
placed the schools on a subscription basis. The new law was 
called, "An act providing for the establishment of free schools, 
approved January 15, 1825, and for other purposes" (passed 
February 17, 1827). The section relating to taxation was as 
follows: 

Sec. 4. No person shall he taxed without his consent. No person 
shall hereafter be taxed for the support of any free school in this 
state, unless by his or her own free will and consent, first had and 
obtained, in writing. And any person agreeing and consenting 
shall be taxed in the manner prescribed in the act to which this 
is an agreement: Provided, that no person shall be permitted to 
send any scholar or scholars to such school, unless such person 
shall have consented, as above, to be taxed for the support of such 
school 

The General Assembly of 1829, which was also reactionary 
with regard to educational matters, passed a new school law, 
which again provided that no person was to be taxed for the 
support of free schools unless he gave consent in writing. This 
law also contained a disastrous provision for the sale of 
school lands as soon as proper authorization could be obtained 
from Congress. The support of education thus became, 
except for smaU sums derived from the permanent school fund, 
dependent on what was really a system of voluntary subscrip- 
tions, which meant that not only the children of those parents 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 25 

who were indifferent to education but the children of parents 
who were poor or unduly thrifty were alike unprovided for and 
unprotected. Schools were only for those children whose 
parents were either well-to-do or willing to make sacrifices for 
the sake of their children's future. Four years later, the school 
law^ of 1833 added a provision that there was to be "gratuitous 
instruction" for all "orphans and children of indigent parents 
residing in the vicinity." In general, however, pauper children 
were not compelled to go to school. A pauper child was bound 
out as an apprentice with a provision in the indenture that he 
was to be "taught to read and write, and the ground rules of 
arithmetic." 

Unwilling to tax themselves for the support of schools, the 
early legislators of Illinois were only too quick to take advan- 
tage of any help that might come from the federal land grants, and 
the wasteful method of alienating for a song the lands that were 
destined to be almost fabulously valuable was soon inaugurated. 
The General Assembly of 183 1, without waiting for congressional 
sanction, passed an act^ providing for the immediate sale of 
those sections of land "numbered 16" in each township, which 
the state was supposed to hold as a trust fund for the education 
of its children. 

'The law of 1833 was entitled "An Act to provide for the application 
of the Interest of the Fund arising from the sale of the school lands belonging 
to the several townships in this state." Sec. 4 of the law prescribed in detail 
the method of keeping the attendance and provided that the teacher should 
"add together the number of days which each scholar residing in the proper 
township" had attended his school, and the total number of days attend- 
ance was to be the basis on which the school commissioner should apportion 
the income of the school fund, provided it were "accompanied by a cer- 
tificate from a majority of the trustees of the school .... setting forth 
that .... said teacher had, to the best of their knowledge and belief, 
given gratuitous instruction in said school, to all such orphans and children 
of indigent parents residing in the vicinity, as had been presented for that 
purpose by the trustees of said school." 

» Knight, op. cit., p. 79. 



26 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

As a result of the unwillingness or inability of the people 
to provide schools, the majority of the children of Illinois were 
without any chance of schooling. An article in a contemporary 
journal, the Annals of Education,^ said that in 1831 only about 
one-fourth of the children between four and sixteen years of 
age attended school during any portion of the year. The 
schools that existed were kept open only a few weeks in the year 
and were miserably equipped and taught. 

Discouraging as was the educational situation at this time, 
the hope of a free school system was by no means dead. Socie- 
ties were organized to promote the cause of free common schools, 
and "addresses" and "memorials" were circulated as propa- 
ganda in behalf of public education. In February, 1833, an 
educational convention was held at Vandalia, then capital of 
the state, and early in the following year the "friends of edu- 
cation" began to make preparation for securing favorable 
legislation at the next session of the legislature. Popular 
interest in the subject is evidenced by the fact that more than 
half the counties in the state sent delegates to the second 
Illinois educational convention, held at Vandalia, December 5, 
1834.^ This convention, of which Stephen A. Douglas was the 
secretary pro tem., issued an address to the people of Illinois^ 

'Quoted in W. L. Pillsbury, "Early Education in Illinois," in Six- 
teenth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Illinois 
(1885-86), p. cviii. Another contemporary estimate was that "of 20,000 
children in the state nearly one-half were destitute of the means of edu- 
cation." 

' The proceedings of the second educational convention, also held at 
Vandalia, are given in full in the Sixteenth Biennial Report of the Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction of Illinois (1885-86) pp. cxv-cxxi. The pro- 
ceedings of the first convention are also quoted on pp. cix-cxi of this same 
report. 

3 The opening paragraphs of this address (expressive of the sense of 
this convention on the subject of common-school education) are indicative 
of its general character: '^Fellow-Citizens. — This is an important crisis 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 27 

urging them "to adopt a system which would carry to every 
man's door the means of educating his children as the offspring 
of freeman should be taught," and asking the question, "Shall 
it be said that Illinois is too poor to educate her sons and her 
daughters ? To hesitate upon this subject is to charge the 
people with a want of spirit and an ignorance of the character 
of the age in which they live,"^ That this convention was not 
prepared to urge any radical measures is indicated by the follow- 
ing extract from the memorial sent to the legislature: 

In proposing for adoption any plan of common school instruction 
in this state, reference must be had to the state of feeUng on this sub- 
ject which pervades the community, as well as to our pecuniary 
resources. The prevaiUng pubUc sentiment, we believe, wUl not 
authorize the adoption of a system, which will have to be enforced 
by heavy pains and penalties, and encumbered with all the minute 

in the history of our state. Possessing a territory of 59,300 square miles, 
unsurpassed in any country, and unrivalled in fertility of soil; able to 
enjoy, at comparatively small expense, easy and cheap transportation for 
her produce; having an enterprising population of more than 250,000; and 
subject to an unparalleled flow of emigration; narrow and contracted legis- 
lation will retard her onward march, whilst judicious and manly enactments 
will excite her to honorable exertion, arouse in action her intellect, and 
develop her mighty resources. And among all the subjects, at this time, 
calling for liberal and enlightened legislation, we recognize none, having 
equal claims upon the patronage of the people, with that of the common 
school education. A well-devised system of primary schools will secure 
to their families increased prosperity and happiness, and to their country, 
wealth, glory and freedom. 

"Entertaining those views of the great advantages which would result 
from a general enjoyment of common school education, and of the impor- 
tance of legislative action in reference thereto, it is well to enquire whether 
it be now practicable and expedient for the people of Illinois to adopt 
a system which would carry to every man's door the means of educating 
his children as the offspring of freeman should be taught." — Sixteenth 
Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Illinois (1885- 
86), p. cxvii. 

' Ihid., p. cxix. 



28 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

details of the school system of many of our sister states, with the 
management and operation of which, the citizens of this state are 
unacquainted.^ 

In a communication to the General Assembly during this 
same year, Governor Joseph Duncan, who as a member of the 
General Assembly had introduced the free school law of 1825, 
called attention to the important but neglected subject of 
education, "Every consideration," he wrote, "connected 
with the virtue, elevation and happiness of man and the char- 
acter and prosperity of our state, and of our common country, 
calls upon you to establish some permanent system of common 
schools, by which an education may be placed within the power, 
nay, if possible, secured to every child in the state. "^ 

It is interesting to know that Abraham Lincoln was a mem- 
ber of this legislature and that he had already published in the 
Sangamon Journal the following statement of his position on the 
question of public education. 

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any 
plan or systems respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the 
most important subject that we as a people can be engaged in. 
That every man may receive at least a moderate education, and 
thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other countries, 
by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, 
appears to be an object of vital importance on this account alone, 
to say nothing of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from 
being able to read the Scriptures and other works, both of a religious 
and moral nature, for ourselves. For my part, I desire to see the 
time when education, and, by its means, morality, sobriety, enter- 
prise and industry, shall become much more general than at present, 
and I should be gratified to have it in my power to contribute some- 

' From the "Memorial to the Legislature" adopted in 1834 by the 
Common School Convention. Quoted in full in Sixteenth Biennial Report 
of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Illinois (1885-86), p. cxxi. 

^ Illinois Senate Journal, gih General Assembly, December 3, 1834, 
p. 23. See also Appendix I, doc. i, p. 354 of this volume. 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 29 

thing to the advancement of any measure which might have a tend- 
ency to accelerate the happy period.^ 

Fortunately the '^friends of education" were rewarded by 
one substantial measure of progress during the decade 1830-40 
— the enactment of a special school law for Chicago.^ This 
statute, which became a law in February, 1835, provided for 
free schools, which were to be supported by an annual tax levy 
"sufficient to defray the necessary expense of fuel, rent of 
schoolroom, and furniture." The school trustees were given 
authority also to levy and collect such additional taxes as were 
voted by a majority of the legal voters of the district.^ At this 
time Chicago had a population of more than four thousand and 

^ Quoted in Cook, op. cii., p. 43. 

^ An act relating to schools in Township Thirty-nine, North Range 
Fourteen East {Illinois Session Laws, 1835, p. 161). 

3 The most important provision of this law was the following: "The 
legal voters in each school district, shall annually elect three persons to be 
Trustees of Common Schools, whose duty it shall be .... to see that the 
schools are free, and that all white children in the district have an oppor- 
tunity of attending them The said Trustees shall annually levy 

and collect a tax sufficient to defray the necessary expense of fuel, rent of 
schoolroom, and the furniture for the same; and they shall levy and collect 
such additional taxes as a majority of the legal voters of the district, at 
a meeting called for that purpose shall direct; Provided, that such addi- 
tional taxes shaU never exceed one half of one per cent per annum upon all 
the taxable property in the district; all of which taxes the said Trustees 
shall have full power to assess and collect." — Ibid., sec. 4, p. 161. 

In 1849 the annual report of the School Inspectors described the progress 
made since 1840 as follows: "Since the organization of our public schools 
in the autumn of 1840, there has been a change unparalleled in the school 
history of any western city. Then a few miserably clad children, unwashed 
and uncombed, were huddled into small, uncleanly and unventilated apart- 
ments, seated upon uncomfortable benches Now, the school reports 

of the township show the names of nearly 2,000 pupils, two-thirds of whom 
are in daily attendance in spacious, ventilated, well-regulated schoolrooms. 
.... The scholars are neat in person and orderly in behavior . . . ." — 
Quoted in Cook, op. cit., p. 461. 



30 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

had seven schools. As several of these were supported in part 
by appropriations made from the school fund of the town, they 
were properly called public schools.^ The interest from the 
township school fund was apportioned among the several 
teachers of the town in proportion to the number of days of 
school attendance by the pupils registered in the school. But 
no teacher could be paid unless a certificate was presented show- 
ing that he had "given gratuitous instruction to all such orphans 
and children of indigent parents residing in the vicinity, as had 
been presented for that purpose."^ 

The "friends of popular education" and the "friends of the 
common schools" were very active during the decade 1840-50. 
In fact, it may be said that during the entire period between the 
repeal of the free school law in 1827 and the enactment of the 
law of 1855, which placed the public school system on a firm 
basis, the cause of popular education was the subject of a con- 
stantly growing public agitation. The societies already men- 
tioned held frequent meetings and did their best to arouse an 
interest in the cause of free education. The burning question 
that agitated the state was "shall the property of the state 
be taxed to educate the children of the state?" and, strange 
as it may seem to readers of the present day, the majority 
of the voters of the state continued to give a negative 
answer. 

There were, however, influences operating between 1840-50, 
and even earlier, to further the cause of free schools. The 
rapid increase in population, which was almost phenomenal in 
the two decades between 1830 and 1850, went along with a 

' Second Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 
Illinois (1857-58), p. 295. It should perhaps be noted that Chicago did 
not become a city until two years after the passage of the special school act 
of 1835. In 1839 another special act relating to the common schools of 
Chicago was passed by the legislature. 

^ Fourth A nnual Report of the Superintendent of the Public Schools of 
Chicago, Year Ending February i, 1858, p. 7. 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 31 

rapid increase in wealth, which meant the breakdown of the 
most important obstacle in the way of school taxes. Added 
to this was the very important fact that many of the new settlers 
of this period came from eastern states where they had grown 
accustomed to a free school system supported by taxation. 
In May, 1841, however, it was estimated that more than one- 
half of the children of the state did not attend school at all and 
that most of the schools were not in session more than thirty 
days in the year.^ 

In the year 1841 the Illinois Education Society met at 
Springfield and in a memorial to the General Assembly made 
the very moderate proposal that a majority of three-fourths of 
the legal voters of a township should be permitted to levy a 
tax "to a limited amount" for school purposes. ''What evils," 
it was asked, "could grow out of trusting three-fourths of the 
people of a township with the liberty of thus acting for them- 
selves, in behalf of the education of their children?"^ But 
although a new school law was passed in 1 841, it failed to make 
the necessary provision for taxation.^ 

' Sixteenth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction 
of Illinois (1885-86), p. cxl. 

^Illinois Reports to the Senate and House of Representatives, 1840-41, 
Vol. II, p. 151. See Appendix I, doc. 3, p. 360 of this volume for other 
proposals contained in this memorial, the demand for a state superintend- 
ent, etc. 

3 The enacting clause of this law is of interest and shows a willingness 
to provide for the education of the children of the state in so far as it could 
be done from the school lands and without any additional taxation for this 
purpose. 

"Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the 
General Assembly: That for the purpose of establishing and sustaining 
common schools throughout the State, and taking care of and using the 
resources of the State held for purposes of education, the following sections 
and provisions shall take effect as the law of this State on the first day of 
July next." — An act making provision for organizing and maintaining 
common schools. In force July i, 1841 : Laws of Illinois, Twelfth General 
Assembly, 1840-41, p. 259. 



32 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

In the autumn of 1844 a convention of the "friends of edu- 
cation" was held at Peoria, and an attempt was made to organ- 
ize a movement to demand local taxation sufficient to maintain 
a free school in every district during a school term of not less 
than three months.^ Some extracts from their "Memorial 
in Behalf of Public Schools" indicate how strong was the oppo- 
sition to a school tax and how far from general was the belief 
in the principle of free state-provided education. Thus the 
"Memorial" says: 

We come now to consider, finally, the one great requisite of the 

proposed plan — Taxation We come out frankly and boldly, 

and acknowledge the whole system — every effort, is intended only 
as a means of allurement to draw the people into the grasp of this 

most awful monster — a school tax We do not, however, 

propose coercing any to employ him who prefer to let him alone. 
All we ask is, to give those permission to use him who are so inclined. 
Our position is, that taxation for the support of schools is wise and 
just — that it is, in fact, the only method by which the deficiency for 
defraying the expense of popular education, beyond that supplied 
by the public funds, can be equalised amongst those who should 
pay it.^ 

The "Memorial" calls attention to the fact that in the pre- 
ceding legislature a bill had been introduced to require a vote 
of two-thirds of the people of a township to levy a school tax, 

' A study of all phases of the educational history of Illinois is obviously 
beyond the scope of this chapter, but it may be noted that the convention 
of "the friends of education" also demanded the establishment of the 
offices of state and county superintendent of schools. However, in 1834, 
in a report made to the General Assembly from the Committee on Education 
it was stated that as yet it was believed to be inadvisable to appoint a state 
superintendent, partly because of the "obvious difficulty" of finding a suit- 
able person for such an office and partly because the time had "not yet 
arrived when his services may be used to the best advantage." — Journal 
of the Senate, 1834-35, pp. 419-33- 

= Illinois Reports to the Senate and House of Representatives, 1844-45, 
Vol. I, p. 116. See also Appendix I, doc. 5, p. 363 of this volume. 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 33 

and the "Memorial" earnestly urges that such a decision should 
rest with a majority. 

Why should there be any fear of abuse under the law? Cer- 
tainly there is no danger of having too good schools; that too much 
will be paid to teachers; or that money will be squandered by those 
who themselves pay it. To require a two-thirds vote looks very 

much as though one or all of these results were to be feared 

In other public measures, it is considered safe to trust to a majority 
to manage; and we can see no great danger in education, or its too 
rapid promotion, that it should be singled out to be used with caution. 

Accepting the principles laid down in this memorial, Gover- 
nor Ford in his first message to the General Assembly in 1844 
spoke of the subject of common school education as "of the 
utmost importance to the well-being of the people; the due 
provision for which is essential to the perpetuity of enlightened 
republicanism, and absolutely necessary to a proper and just 
administration of our democratic institutions." He recom- 
mended no definite measure, however, except the establish- 
ment of the office of state superintendent of schools with the 
duty of collecting statistical and other information to enable the 
General Assembly to legislate "with an enlightened judgment."^ 

The legislature, however, not only accepted the governor's 
recommendation but went much farther and in 1845 passed 
a law that recognized the free school principle by providing for 
local taxation by a two-thirds vote of any school district.^ 

^ Illinois Reports to the Senate and House of Representatives, 1844-45 
Vol. I, p. 9. See also Appendix I, doc. 6, p. 368 of this volume. 

* The provision with regard to taxation is important enough to quote. 
The act provided that on the first Saturday in May "legal voters of the 
different school districts of this state, may meet together at some central 
place in their respective districts, for the purpose of voting for or against 
levying a tax for the support of schools, of building and repairing school 
houses, or for other school purposes." — Sec. 84 of "An Act to establish and 
maintain common schools," Laws of Illinois, Fourteenth General Assembly, 
Session 1844-45, P- 72. 



34 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

This statute also contained an interesting provision prohibiting 
the use of any foreign language in the tax-supported schools, as 
follows: ''No school shall derive any benefit from the public or 
town fund unless the text books used in said schools, shall be 
in the English language, nor unless the common medium of 
communication in said schools shall be the English language."^ 

Two years later an attempt was made by the state super- 
intendent of common schools to ascertain how many counties 
had levied school taxes, but only fifty-seven out of the ninety- 
nine counties of the state replied to the letter of inquiry sent 
out, and in only twenty-one of these counties had the tax been 
levied. It was charged that the large property owners were 
most strongly opposed to the assessment of taxes for school 
purposes. They were able to educate their own children 
without public assistance and were unwilling to have their 
property taxed for the education of the children of those who 
had no taxable property.^ 

Fortunately the energies of the "friends of education" 
never flagged. A great common school convention was held 
in 1846 in Chicago, the city of free schools, at which the mayor 
presided. There was, it will be remembered, a special law 
enabling Chicago to tax herself for school purposes, and the 
school system which had been established was looked upon 
with great respect. In the report of the superintendent of 
common schools to the General Assembly of 1846-47, although 
the shortcomings of the school system of Illinois were vigor- 
ously portrayed, Chicago was pointed out as an example to be 
followed. 

In the county of Cook alone [the superintendent reported] the 
inhabitants — deeply impressed with the importance of the common 

' Laws of Illinois, Fourteenth General Assembly, sec. 58, p. 64. 

'See "Report of the State Superintendent of Common Schools, Jan- 
uary 22, 1847," in Illinois Reports to the Senate and House of Representatives, 
Session 1846-47, Vol. II, pp. 51-59. 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 35 

school education — have raised, by voluntary taxation, under the pro- 
vision of the law, the large sum of five thousand, two hundred and 
four dollars, which will continue and increase as an annual tax ; and 
what has been the result ? Their schools are in a most flourishing 
condition. They have erected large and elegant school-houses, 
procured competent and accomplished teachers, and have two 
thousand and ninety-five children in daily attendance at these nur- 
series of learning.' 

The legislature, however, moved backward rather than 
forward and amended the law of 1845 by making it more difficult 
to secure a school tax. The old law had provided for a tax 
levy by two-thirds of the voters who attended a meeting held 
for this purpose. The amended law provided that a majority 
of all the voters of the district must approve the tax. All 
voters who failed to attend the meeting would in this way be 
counted as voting in the negative.^ 

But the right of every child to a free common school edu- 
cation was making headway against the property owners who 
were so unwilling to be taxed. In a report issued by the secre- 
tary of state acting as superintendent of common schools it 
was urged as a duty upon every citizen in the state "to erect 
upon a permanent basis, a plain practical system of free com- 
mon schools." It was estimated that there were only schools 
enough for about three-fifths of the children of the state,^ 
although state pride necessitated the comforting reflection 
that Illinois "in the establishment of her system of schools was 
far in advance of any of the states at a similar period of their 

' "Report of the State Superintendent of Common Schools, January 
22, 1847," p. II, in Illinois Reports to Senate and House of Representatives, 
Session 1846-47, Vol. II, pp. 49-97. See also Appendix I, doc. 7, p. 369 
of this volume. 

^ "An act to establish and maintain common schools," February 12, 
April I, 1849. Laws i84g, p. 177. 

3 Appendix to the "Report of the State Superintendent of Common 
Schools, March i, 1848," in Reports to the Sixteenth General Assembly of 
Illinois, Convened January i, 1849, p. 109. 



36 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

history." On January i, 1849, ^^^ *^^y beginning the sixteenth 
session of the General Assembly, the friends of popular edu- 
cation held a great convention at the state capitol, and at a 
public meeting held in the House of Representatives a great 
audience passed a resolution declaring "that the property 
of the state should be taxed to educate the children of the 
state." 

It was seven years, however, before this priaciple was finally 
embodied in a free school law, and a persistent organized effort 
to secure public understanding of the educational needs of the 
state was necessary during these intervening years. Governor 
French discussed the subject in his first message to the seven- 
teenth General Assembly in 1851,^ and the superintendent of 
schools in a report to the same session of the General Assembly 
pointed out the futility of the current systems of levying school 
taxes. 

' See Reports to the Seventeenth General Assembly of Illinois, Convened 
January 6, 1851, p. 22. Governor French, however, deals especially with 
the question of school administration instead of with the necessary but 
unpopular school tax: 

"What seems now mostly needed is a competent number of thoroughly 
educated school teachers, to give practical efficiency to our common school 
system. Without these, it is the merest folly to expect to confer that edu- 
cation upon the children of this state which is demanded by our efforts and 
our resources. If greater caution were observed to secure competent 
teachers and superintending officers, such as would discharge their duty 
properly under the laws, there would be less demand for perpetual changes 
and modifications of the school laws, and the defects imagined as incident 
to them would vanish. One great drawback upon the efficient working of 
our common school system, is the want of an energetic and industrious 
supervision of the affairs of each school. To this end, there is required the 
labor of a person in each county who shall give his earnest attention to the 
matter, instead of treating it as a subordinate consideration. It is this 
alone which will make our school system what it ought to be. I can dis- 
cover no better plan to answer this purpose, than to require the several 
county courts to see that this important duty is well attended to, and com- 
pel the county to provide for it accordingly." 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 37 

A majority of all the legal voters of any school district [he said] 
is now required to levy a tax for building, furnishing or repairing 
schoolhouses, or for the support of schools. Experience has shown 
that great difficulty generally exists in inducing a sufficient number 
to assemble together to secure any efficient action. Mere absence 
on the part of a few may defeat the most necessary objects; and it 
has been found next to impossible to make a legal assessment. It is 
submitted whether it would not be better to allow a majority present 
at any meeting, legally convened, to determine the question of levying 
such a tax.'^ 

In 1853 Governor Matteson in his inaugural message to the 
eighteenth General Assembly recommended the "entire repeal 
of all laws regulating common schools, and the adoption of a 
simple system, plain in its provisions, supported by a tax upon 
property, when the school fund is not sufficient for such pur- 
pose, and made free to all alike." 

Others steps led rapidly to this end. In the same year the 
secretary of state, still acting as superintendent of common 
schools, presented an interesting report to the legislature in 
which he set forth that — 

the sum raised by an ad valorem tax, for the support of schools in 
46 counties, is reported to be $51,101 . 14. A large proportion of this 
has been applied to the building and repair of schoolhouses, but little, 
comparatively, and that only in a few counties, having been devoted 
to the payment of teachers and the general support of schools. In 
20 counties out of 74, no such tax was levied, and the commissioners 
of 8 counties, in consequence of the default of the township treasurers, 
were able to communicate nothing relative thereto.^ 
The report says further, 

' "Biennial Report of the State Superintendent of Common Schools 
for 1849-50" (David Gregg, Superintendent), p. 15, in Reports to the Seven- 
teenth General Assembly of Illinois, Convened January 6, 1851, pp. 82-95. 

'"Biennial Report of State Superintendent of Common Schools for 
1851-52" (David Gregg, Superintendent), p. 7, in Reports to the Eighteenth 
General Assembly of Illinois, Convened January 3, 1853, pp. 144-242. 



38 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Under the law as it now stands, a majority of the legal voters of 
districts .... have it in their power, by a majority of voters, to 
levy a tax for the support of schools, thus enabling them, if they see 
proper, to avail themselves of all the advantages of free schools. I am 
not aware that in a single instance this has been done, nor can any 
motive be assigned for the action .... unless a preference for the 
system which now prevails. 

In 1854 the ofl&ce of state superintendent of public instruc- 
tion was separated from that of the secretary of state, and 
Ninian W. Edwards, son of a former governor of the state, 
became the first holder of the new ofiSce thus created. In his 
first report to the General Assembly, written December 10, 

1854, he vigorously urged as a "first principle that education 
should be supported by a tax on property," which would give 
'* to every child of the state a right to be educated and to all 
an equal right. "^ 

The free school law of 1855 followed. This law provided 
for a state school tax, for unrestrained local taxation, and for 
a free school, in every district, during six months in the year. 
The opposition to the free school system had been especially 
hostile in the southern counties of the state, and only the pro- 
vision of a state tax, by which the contribution of the richer 
counties was shared with the poorer counties, enabled the bill 
to pass. ''If those fellows up north want to pay for schools 
down here we'll let 'em,"^ a representative from the southern 
part of the state is reported to have said. 

' "Biennial Report of State Superintendent of Public Instruction," in 
Reports to Nineteenth General Assembly of Illinois, Convened January i, 

1855, p. 73. See also Appendix I, doc. 10, p. 372 of this volume. 

^ The truth of this statement appears in the returns of the school tax 
levy. During the first year Cook County paid $65,150.31 in school taxes 
and received on distribution $29,185.02; while Williamson County in the 
southern part of the state paid $1,737.04 and received back $4,917.25; 
Sangamon County paid in $23,132 and received back $11,027; White 
County paid in $2,579 and received back $5,409; Pope County paid in 
$5,055 and received back $4,239; and Hardin County paid in $894 and 
received back $2,417. 



STRUGGLE FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM 39 

The state of Illinois had finally realized the necessity of 
educating its children, but the provision of free schools was 
soon discovered to be only one step toward this end. It was 
recognized by the friends of universal education that a com- 
pulsory attendance law was necessary to compel all children 
to attend the free schools that were provided for them by the 
state. 



CHAPTER III 

THE STRUGGLE FOR A COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW IN 
ILLINOIS, 1855-83 

Between the year 1855, when the free school act was passed, 
and the year 1883, when school attendance was made com- 
pulsory, there were comparatively few changes in the school 
law. The law of 1855 became effective only very gradually. 
The establishment of an adequate school system was inevitably 
a slow process even after state taxes for this purpose were 
forthcoming. Governor Matteson in his message to the General 
Assembly on the first of January, 1857, reported with satis- 
faction that there were "few individuals who deny the principle 
that the property of the country should educate its children." 
He called attention to the fact that the number of children 
enrolled in the schools of Illinois had increased from 136,371 
in 1853 to 312,393 in 1856, and he described this change in the 
school enrolment as "one of the most interesting and immedi- 
ate effects of the new law" and declared further that the results 
proved "conclusively that a new era is begun in the education 
of the state." 

The effect of the new free school law may be illustrated by 
the changes that took place in the school situation in Peoria, 
a town in central Illinois, which had in i860 a population of 
14,045. In 1855 there were four ungraded "public schools" 
in the town; the teachers were paid according to the number of 
pupils enrolled, and consequently each teacher admitted to his 
school all who wished to enter, without regard to age or pre- 
vious schooling. Moreover, the tuition at these so-called 
"public schools" was so high as to exclude "many of the poorer 
children and the children of those who did not sufficiently 

40 



STRUGGLE FOR COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW 41 

appreciate the advantages of learning and school discipline to 
their offspring." It was said that three-fourths of all the 
children attending school in Peoria were in private schools, and 
the pubHc schools were looked upon "as fit only for the poor, 
and to be shunned by all who were able to pay the high tuition 
of the private institution." Three years after the free school 
law of 1855 had been passed, the superintendent of city schools 
reported that over $10,000 a year had been expended for build- 
ings and sites but that it had not yet been found possible to 
make the schools "wholly free, dependent only on money raised 
by taxation for their support." It was claimed that the 
tuition fee of one dollar a term was collected only from those 
"able to pay." "The poor," it was reported, "have been 
allowed to send free, where it was supposed that otherwise their 
poverty would exclude their children from the schools."^ 

On the whole, the response that came from the people after 
the passage of the free school law showed that they heartily 
approved it. Within six years after the passage of the law, the 
number of schools with the required six months' term had 
increased from 7,283 to 8,406; the number of districts having 
no schools at all had diminished from 850 to 649; leaving 288 
districts with schools open for a shorter term than the law pre- 
scribed. Ninety-four per cent of all the school districts of the 
state had, according to the report of the state superintendent 
of public instruction, fully complied with the provisions of the 
law even with regard to the duration of the school term.^ 

The effect of the new law in Chicago is of special interest. 
In 1855 improvements in the school system of this city were 
being made under John C. Dore, a new superintendent of 
schools. But a school system utterly lacking in organization 

^ Second Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 
Illinois (1857-58), pp. 31-33 of the Appendix. 

' See Fourth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction 
of Illinois (1861-62), pp. 5-21. 



42 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

could be improved only gradually. The chaos that existed 
prior to this time may be illustrated by the fact that under Mr. 
D ore's superin tendency teachers were for the first time pro- 
vided with class books and required to register the names of 
their pupils and to keep attendance records. During the earlier 
period without any registers either of admissions or of discharges, 
it had been impossible to tell what pupils were even supposed to 
be attending school. The new law brought about a great and 
sudden increase in school attendance. In 1856 the super- 
intendent reported that in spite of increased accommodations^ 
the public schools were crowded with pupils, and he estimated 
that there were still "at least 3,000 children in the city who were 
utterly destitute of school instruction, or any equivalent for it." 
During the years 1856 and 1857, 4 new schoolhouses were con- 
structed to provide for about 2,500 additional school children, 
but the superintendent reported that there were still "hundreds 
of children who could not be accommodated with seats." 

There was another serious aspect to the situation that was 
just beginning to receive attention. Not only were there still 
large numbers of unenrolled children, but the children who were 
enrolled attended school very irregularly. The state super- 
intendent of public instruction reported that the average attend- 
ance in Chicago schools was only 31 per cent of the enrolment. 
With regard to the new problem of non-attendance, contempo- 
rary school reports show that the large number of unenrolled and 
non-attending children was attributed to the "changing char- 

^ In 1855 there were 9 public schools and 42 teachers with about 6,826 
pupils. It is of interest that the highest salary paid to a man teacher was 
$1,200 and to a woman $400. Fifteen years earlier, in 1840, Chicago had 
only 4 teachers, all men; in 1845 the first public school building was erected 
(on Madison between Dearborn and State); in 1846 there were 10 teachers, 
6 of whom were women; in 1850, 24 teachers, 20 of whom were women; 
at this time Chicago had a population of 30,000 people. See Report of the 
Board of Education of Chicago, 1855, pp. 22, 23; see also J. W. Cook, Edu- 
cational History of Illinois, pp. 460-62. 



STRUGGLE FOR COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW 43 

acter of the population."' There was much concern over the 
situation, but the only method of meeting the problem of 
irregularity of attendance was suspension from school — a 
remedy that was obviously worse than the evil it was designed 
to cure. Although the attention of those responsible for the 
management of school afifairs was being gradually concentrated 
on the importance of getting all the children enrolled in the 
new schools and of insuring, through regularity of attendance, 
proper returns from the public investment in free education, 
there was no attempt made as yet to secure a compulsory 
attendance law. Such changes as were made in the school law 
during this period related rather to the management of the 
school fund, the election of school commissioners, the duties of 
state and county superintendents of schools, the selection of 
teachers together with their qualifications, and the issuance 
of certificates. 

But there is evidence that the absence of legislation did 
not mean that conditions were considered satisfactory by those 
who were directly connected with the schools. As early as 
1862 the state superintendent of public instruction noted in 

' The condition of the poorest children in a large city before the 
establishment of a compulsory law is almost incredible at the present time. 
The establishment in England and Scotland of the "Ragged Schools" for 
the vagrant children of the streets was followed in New York City by the 
founding of the so-called "Industrial Schools" of the Children's Aid 
Society. See Charles Loring Brace, The Dangerous Classes of New York 
(New York, 1872), chap. xii. Thus Mr. Brace, in describing the "wild 
ragged little children" for whom these schools were founded, says: "Many 
were ashamed to go to the pubUc schools; they were too irregular for their 

rules The pohce were constantly arresting them as vagrants 

Though our Free Schools are open to all, .... vast numbers of children 
are so ill-clothed and destitute that they are ashamed to attend .... or 
they are begging, or engaged in street occupations, and will not attend, or, 
if they do, attend very irregularly." For an account of the difi&cuity in 
compelling such children to attend school in Chicago, see p. 61 and p. 71 
of this volume. 



44 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

his biennial report that " the evils of absenteeism and irregular 
attendance are among the most serious and difficult of remedy 
of any encountered in the administration of any system of 
common schools. While the former injuriously lessens the 
number of scholars, the latter as perniciously affects the schools 
themselves."^ In the annual report of the Chicago Board of 
Education for the year 1864-65, the organization of a "truant 
police" system is suggested. Although the schools of this city 
were at that time greatly superior to any other schools in the 
state, it was said that a large number of children were enrolled 
each month and that 10 per cent of those enrolled one month 
were absent the next. Moreover, even those enrolled for a 
month attended irregularly during that month, and trivial 
excuses for absence were noted. It was also pointed out that 
child labor was a serious factor in depriving children of the 
opportunity of attending school, and in 1865 the Eleventh 
Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago sounded 
a solemn warning on this subject. "Many a child," it said, 
"has been sacrificed mentally and morally as well as physically 
to the pecuniary interest of the parent. Every effort should 
be made to secure the city against the inroads which avarice 
and carelessness are thus making upon her prosperity."^ 

A few years later, the state superintendent of public instruc- 
tion reported that it was undeniable that "after the most 
favorable interpretation of the statistics that truth will warrant, 
the evil of absenteeism, irregular attendance, and truancy 
remains one of gigantic and alarming proportions. "^ The 
necessity of making school attendance not only free but com- 

' Fourth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 
Illinois (1861-62), p. 19. 

^ Eleventh Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago (1864-65), 
p. 20. 

3 Seventh Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 
Illinois (1867-68), p. 45. 



STRUGGLE FOR COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW 45 

pulsory was discussed at some length in this report.^ It was 
pointed out that the "idea of compulsion" might be found in 
the principle, then well established, " that a state has a just 
moral claim upon so much of the property of the people as may- 
be required to educate its children, and fit them for usefulness 
as good citizens," It was going only one step farther to urge 
that "compulsory school-tax paying .... for the noble pur- 
pose of educating and uplifting the people" ought surely to be 
accompanied by a provision that the end sought should not 
"fail of attainment through the indifference or perverseness 
of others. The hand that forcibly takes the tax money from 
the pocket of an unwilling non-resident to support a school in 
a distant district in which he has no personal interest is at least 
as rough and arbitrary as would be the hand that forcibly leads 

the children to the doors of the schoolroom If a state 

may enact a general free school law, it may see that its supreme 
purpose is not defeated."^ 

A step forward was taken by the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1870, which provided in the constitution itself ^ definite 
guaranties for the new school system. The eighth article of the 

' See Appendix I, doc. 11, p. 375. 

^ For further and more detailed discussion of consequences of such 
legislation, see Eighth Biennial Report of the Stiperintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion of Illinois (1869-70), p. 70. In the following year, it was again urged 
that the state had the power to pass a compulsory education law. The 
state superintendent reported that one out of every five or six children was 
not enrolled at all — "not in school for so much as one day." Moreover, 
of those who did attend, only 65 per cent were regular attendants during the 
school term, short as it then was. Many, it was said, were "kept at home 
for their services at labor; in shops and factories, upon the farm and in the 
house " 

3 The other provisions in the constitution of 1870, Article VIII, "Edu- 
cation," are as follows: 

"Sec. 2) All lands, moneys, or other property, donated, granted, or 
received for schools, college, seminary or university purposes, and the 



46 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

new constitution was devoted to "education" and its first 
section laid upon the General Assembly the duty of providing 
"a thorough and efficient system of free schools, whereby all 
children of this state may receive a good common-school 
education." 

By 1870, then, the free school system was not merely estab- 
lished; it was accepted without question and provided for in 
the fundamental law of the state. At this time, too, the com- 
pulsory attendance movement was making headway. In 187 1 
a bill which failed to pass was introduced into the legislature 
providing that all children between eight and fourteen years 
of age should be compelled to attend school for at least twelve 
weeks of the school year and that attendance should be con- 
secutive during six weeks of that time. Already, too, the states 
of Arkansas and South Carolina had incorporated in their 
constitutions provisions requiring legislative enactment on the 
subject of compulsory school attendance, and Missouri, Nevada, 
North Carolina, Virginia, and other states had constitutional 

proceeds thereof, shall be faithfully applied to the objects for which such 
gifts or grants were made. 

"Sec. 3) Neither the general assembly nor any county, city, town, 
township, school district, or other public corporation, shall ever make any 
appropriation or pay from any public fund whatever, anything in aid of 
any church or sectarian purpose, or to help support or sustain any school, 
academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific insti- 
tution, controlled by any church or sectarian denomination whatever; nor 
shall any grant or donation of land, money, or other personal property ever 
be made by the state or any such public corporation, to any church, or for 
any sectarian purpose. 

" Sec. 4) No teacher, state, county, township or district school oflScer 
shall be interested in the sale, proceeds or profits of any book, apparatus 
or furniture used or to be used in any school in this state, with which such 
ofiicer or teacher may be connected, under such penalties as may be pro- 
vided by the general assembly. 

"Sec. 5) There may be a county superintendent of schools in each 
county, whose qualifications, powers, duties, compensation, and time and 
manner of election, and term of office, shall be prescribed by law." 



STRUGGLE FOR COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW 47 

provisions empowering but not requiring such action by the 
state legislature. 

In the meantime, in Illinois, the problems of truancy and 
non-attendance were being recognized as vitally important. 
In 1872 the state superintendent again discussed what, he said, 
had come to be looked upon as "the most important school 
question of modern times" — the question of how the children 
of the state were to be "protected against the wrongs and evils 
of illiteracy, and secured in their educational rights . ' ' He pointed 
out that at last the state had "a free school system, well estab- 
lished, thoroughly organized, and in successful operation"; 
it was therefore possible for the state to deal with the question 
of what should be done with those parents or guardians who 
refused to send their children to school. 

There is, in short, much evidence to show that the evil of 
non-attendance was very great and that it was believed to be 
on the increase. It was said that, "taking all those portions 
of the state from which reports are at hand, the number of 
children who are even enrolled, in any given year, averages 
less than half the total school-going population."^ For the 
first time probably attention was called to the fact that the 
increase of immigration made compulsory school attendance 
"a grave necessity,"^ and it is of interest, too, that elaborate 
arguments were presented to show that compulsory school at- 
tendance, or "obligatory education" as it was more popularly 
called, was both constitutional and expedient. In summarizing 
his arguments the state superintendent made the following 
elaborate statement: 

I think it has been shown that the legislative department may 
properly intervene to prevent those who have control of children, 
from compelling or permitting such children to grow up in ignorance; 

' Ninth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 
Illinois (1871-72), p. 209. 

* Ibid., pp. 224-25. See also Appendix I, doc. 13, p. 380 of this volume. 



48 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

that such intervention is not an abuse of powers conferred, nor an 
unwarrantable assumption of powers not granted; that it is no 
improper invasion of personal liberty, nor of the authority and rights 
of parents, since it merely enforces the performance of parental duty, 
which cannot be regarded as an infraction of rights; that it is not 
inconsistent with rational freedom of conscience; that it puts the 
right of the child to be educated, above the right of the parent to 
keep it in ignorance; that it protects the many, who do educate their 
children, against the counteracting influence of the few, who will not; 
that it shields the innocent from cruel wrong, since starving the mind 
is worse than abusing the body; that it is grounded in the belief that 
to bring up children in ignorance willfully and without cause, is 
a crime, and should be treated as such; that such conduct on the 
part of those having the control of children, being a fruitful source 
of criminality, should be under the ban of legal condemnation, and 
the restraint of legal punishment; that the allegations as to the 
incompatibility of such laws with the nature and spirit of our political 
system, are unfounded, as also are the apprehensions concerning the 
assumed harshness and severity of their enforcement; that the 
operation of such laws, in many of the most enlightened states of 
Europe, is an indication of their wisdom and beneficence, affording 
an example that may be safely followed; that there is no proof that 
the masses of our people are opposed to such legislation, but, on the 
contrary, there is good reason to believe that general enlightenment 
on the subject, would result in general approval of the measure; 
that the exclusively voluntary policy has been, and is, but partially 
successful, while the accelerated influx of foreigners renders the 
adoption of new measures of education, without delay, a grave politi- 
cal necessity; that the proposed legislative intervention is but an 
affirmance of the irrefutable truth, that if it is right to tax all for the 
education of all, then it is equally right to see that all are educated; 
that it is in the line of a general human right, and of a fundamental 
right of children, and is compulsory only as that right must be pro- 
tected against any and all infringements; that it is required, to fully 
utilize the vast resources already devoted to public education, and 
to prevent enormous and increasing waste of money, property, and 
effort ; and, finally, that it is demanded by the clearest principles of 



STRUGGLE FOR COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW 49 

justice both to children and taxpayers — by the franchises conferred 
and implied in the constitution — by considerations of the highest 
political wisdom, and by the facts and exigencies that now exist in 
this state, and in every other state of the union. ^ 

Attention has already been called to the fact that one of 
the early methods of securing attendance of children at school 
in the absence of a compulsory attendance law was to discipline 
the non-attending child by expelling him from school alto- 
gether. The state superintendent gravely pointed to this 
method of meeting the evil, as a legitimate one : 

A scholar may lawfully be expelled for wilful and obstinate 
refusal to comply with any reasonable rule or regulation in regard to 
absence or tardiness. The right and duty of directors to make and 
enforce such regulations as wUl secure regularity and punctuality 
of attendance (those prime requisites of a good school) have been 
affirmed by several of our circuit courts, and by the supreme courts 
of many states, notably and recently by that of Iowa. The principle 
is inherently sound, being essential to the accomplishment of the 
purpose for which public schools exist; and it may be considered as 
now weU settled and determined by the highest judicial authority. 
All that is required of directors in the premises is prudence and good 
sense in their rules, coupled with a proper regard for the rights and 
feelings of parents. No rule or requirement on the subject should be 
so framed as to involve any needless and offensive inquiry into the 
domestic affairs of families. Nothing of that kind is necessary to 
the accomplishment of the purpose aimed at.^ 

The superintendent of schools in Chicago in his report in 
1876 was wise enough to point out that the suspension of wilful 
non-attendants was only "a reward for their truancy." Atten- 
tion may be called, in passing, to the fact that this mode of 
punishing a non-attending child is not yet obsolete and that, 

' Ninth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 
Illinois (1871-72), pp. 224-25. 

'Ibid., p. 125. 



50 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

unfortunately, in spite of our "compulsory" laws, suspension is 
still sometimes used as a method of punishing recalcitrant 
truants. Recently, for example, a little Greek boy who had 
been loitering in a poolroom for several days was brought 
into Hull-House by an officer. A resident of the House who 
knew the boy and knew that he was supposed to be attending 
a near-by Greek school asked why he was not there. "Because," 
he said, "the Greek schoolmaster said either I must come 
always or else I should never come," and he had, of course, 
preferred the second alternative. 

During the decade 1870-80 the subject of compulsory school 
attendance was earnestly advocated by the school authorities, 
and in 1879 the newly created State Bureau of Labor Statistics^ 
began the long struggle for a child labor law. As early as 
1877 the legislature had attempted to regulate child labor 
by passing an act which made it unlawful for anyone having 
the custody of a child under fourteen years of age to allow 
him to engage in occupations "injurious to health or danger- 
ous to life or limb."^ This was entitled a law "to prevent 
and punish wrongs to children, "^ and was designed to punish 
those who were directly promoting the dependency or delin- 
quency of a child rather than to regulate child labor in 
general. In this same year, however, a law "providing for the 
health and safety of persons employed in coal mines," was passed 
prohibiting the employment in coal mines of boys under twelve 

^Illinois Sessioft Laws, 1879, P- 61: "An act to create a Bureau of 
Labor Statistics and to provide for a Board of Commissioners and a Sec- 
retary." 

^ Among the occupations enumerated were "wire- walking, dancing, 
begging, or peddling .... as a gymnast, contortionist, rider or acrobat 
.... or vocation injurious to the health or dangerous to the life or limb 
of such child" (Session Laws, 1877, p. 90). This was the so-called "Mendi- 
cant and Acrobatic act." 

^Session Laws, 1877, pp. 90-91. See also Revised Statutes, 1885, 
chap. 38, sec. 53, p. 391. 



STRUGGLE FOR COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW 51 

and of all women and girls; in 1879 the age limit was raised 
from twelve to fourteen for illiterate boys and in 1883 the age 
was raised to fourteen for all without regard to schooling.^ 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its first biennial report, 
pointed out the necessity of a general child labor law and its 
corollary, a compulsory education law. The provisions asked 
for by the bureau were, however, very inadequate — the pro- 
hibition of the employment of children under ten in factories 
and stores and three months' schooling each year for all children 
under fourteen. "The people of this state," said the report, 
"cannot afford to allow any increase of ignorance through the 
failure of parents and guardians to provide the younger gener- 
ation with at least the elements of that education which is 
necessary for the welfare of the state as well as being a pre- 
requisite to the poorer people in providing for themselves and 
their families a way by which they may know how to live 
better."^ 

And in December, 1882, the bureau again called attention 
in its second biennial report to the urgent necessity of making 
school attendance compulsory. It was estimated that nearly 
25,000 children between the ages of eight and fifteen years, 
about 5 per cent of the total number of children of these ages, 
were not attending school at all; it was also estimated that about 
one-third of the non-attending children were kept out of school 
to work, and that the others were being neglected and were 

^Session Laws, 1877, p. 140; ihid., 1879, P- 207; ihid., 1883, p. 118; 
Revised Statutes, 1885, chap. 93, sec. 6, p. 822. This law remained sub- 
stantially unchanged for twenty years. In 1887, age affidavits were 
required of the boy's parents. Mine inspectors had early (law of 1872, 
amended 1877) been provided and they were to look after these provisions 
along with others. The age affidavit was to be kept on file for the inspector 
to see if he wished (Session Laws, 1887, p. 233; Revised Stattites, 1887, chap. 
93, sec. 6). 

^ First Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of Illinois for 
the Year Ending January 12, 1881, p. 237. 



52 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

becoming delinquent.' In the following year, 1883, the first 
compulsory education law of Illinois was passed. 

More than twenty -five years of agitation had been necessary 
to secure legislation providing for the support of the schools by 
taxation. In the quarter of a century that followed the passage 
of the free school law, the principle that the state might tax 
the property of its citizens to provide for the education of its 
children was embodied in the new constitution of Illinois and 
the legislature had taken another important step in advance 
by recognizing its right to make school attendance compulsory. 
But much remained to be done. It was left for the next 
quarter of a century to extend the provisions of the com- 
pulsory law and, by prohibiting child labor during the period 
of compulsory school attendance, to make possible its enforce- 
ment. 

' "Very many of the other two-thirds are growing up not alone in 
ignorance but in vice, and from them will come the larger part of our 
criminals; for, though education and virtue do not always go together, the 
vicious are most commonly ignorant." A report of the superintendent of 
the Pontiac Reformatory was quoted to show that out of 241 boys con- 
nected with the Reformatory in the two years preceding, 136 could not 
write, 120 knew nothing of arithmetic, 39 could not read, and 124 others 
could read only in the first or the second reader. The superintendent 
commented that " this shows a bad state of things, when we consider that 
the average age of the boys committed was fourteen years and six months" 
{Second Biennial Report of Bureau of Labor Statistics of Illinois (1882), 
P- 374)- 



CHAPTER IV 

THE GROWTH OF THE COMPULSORY SYSTEM, 1883-99 

The first compulsory education law of Illinois, that of 1883, 
was entitled "An act to secure to all children the benefit of an 
elementary education," but the inadequate provisions of the 
law made the fulfilment of its purpose impossible. All 
children between the ages of eight and fourteen were required 
to attend school for a period of twelve weeks each year unless 
excused, and children could be excused by the board of education 
or the school directors ''for any good cause." No provision 
was made for the enforcement of this law beyond the state- 
ment that "any taxpayer" could sue the board of education 
for failure to enforce it.^ It was, however, made a defense 
to any suit if it could be shown (i) that the child's "mental 
or bodily condition" prevented school attendance; or (2) 
that the child had "acquired the branches of learning ordi- 
narily taught in public schools"; or (3) that no public school 
had been "taught within two miles .... for twelve weeks 
during the year." Within a few years the failure of the law 
to effect any real improvement in school attendance became 
apparent. Friends of compulsory education did not hesitate 
to declare the law wholly unsatisfactory; and in 1888 a com- 
mittee of the Chicago Board of Education declared that it was 
"entirely ineffective and practically incapable of enforcement." 
At this time, five years after the law had been passed, it was 
estimated that in the state of Illinois there were 133,329 children 
under fifteen years of age who were not in school,^ and that 

' Session Laws, 1883, p. 167. 

= Eighteenth Biennial Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction of 
Illinois (1888-90), p. Ixxxiv. 

S3 



54 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

large numbers of children had never been enrolled in school 
at all. 

The question of the possible enforcement of the law of 1883 
was discussed by the Chicago Board of Education in 1888. A 
request from a member of the board that a committee be 
appointed to deal with the question of its enforcement was 
referred to the Judiciary Committee. This request, which 
was submitted by a foreign-born member of the Board of Edu- 
cation, Hon. Charles Kozminski, was as follows: 

To the President and Members of the Board of Education, in Session: 

In the year 1883, the State of Illinois enacted a law for the com- 
pulsory education of children between the ages of eight and fourteen 
years. This law makes it compulsory upon every person having the 
control and charge of any such child to send it to a public or private 
school for a period of not less than twelve weeks in each school year, 
unless such child is excused from attending school by the Board of 
Education. Under this law, it is the duty of the Board of Education 
to prosecute every person who violates the law, and for neglecting 
its duty, the Board of Education or its members are punishable by 
fine. In the City of Chicago, large numbers of children, through the 
selfishness, neglect, or indifference of parents and guardians, never 
see the inside of a schoolroom, but grow up to manhood or woman- 
hood without the training and education so necessary in a republican 
form of government and so essential to the welfare of the community. 
Therefore, Be it Resolved, by this Board, that a Committee of three 
be appointed, whose duty it shall be forthwith to confer with the 
authorities of the City of Chicago, for the purpose of enforcing the 
compulsory education law, against parents and guardians who violate 
the same.^ 

The committee to which the resolution was referred reported 
back that "in the opinion of the committee" the law of 1883 
was not "nugatory, invalid, or inoperative" as had been 
claimed. Attention was called, however, to the lack of school 

' Proceedings of the Board of Education of Chicago, September, 1888, to 
August g, i88g, p. 41. 



GROWTH OF THE COMPULSORY SYSTEM 55 

accommodations, and it was pointed out that "if there were 
enough schoolhouses, it would not be found a hard task to get 
the children to attend," but that the law could not possibly be 
enforced until there were enough schools "conveniently located 
to receive pupils." The committee, however, although it 
reported that very little could be accomplished "in the way of 
compelling the attendance of children without greater facilities 
than are now at the command of the board," made certain 
recommendations in the belief that something should be done 
"to show the people that the spirit of the law is cordially 
recognized by the board." The recommendations included 
a provision for publicity regarding the requirements of the law 
and the board's intention to enforce it "where practicable"; 
free textbooks for indigent pupils; the appointment of a prose- 
cuting attorney; some provision for educating pauper children; 
the assignment of teachers to charitable or correctional insti- 
tutions for children on request of the authorities; and, finally, 
the establishment of a department of compulsory education.^ 

The attention given to this subject by the board was 
undoubtedly due in part to the public indignation over the 
failure to enforce the compulsory education law. The Chicago 
Woman's Club had sent to the board a petition stating that — 

Whereas, The appalling increase of crime among youth, the 
large number of vagrant children, and the employment of child labor 
in the city of Chicago is fraught with danger to the commonwealth : 

Therefore, We, the Chicago Woman's Club, respectfully ask your 
honorable body immediately to take the necessary measures to secure 
the enforcement of the Illinois statute of 1883, providing for com- 
pulsory education. 

The reply to the petition merely stated that the board had 
the question of compulsory school attendance under consider- 
ation. A committee of the board was appointed to consult with 

' Proceedings of the Board of Education of Chicago, September, 1888, 
to August g, i88g, p. 75. 



56 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

other organizations and individuals interested in the subject and 
to draw up a new law to " cover all the requirements of the case." 
This committee on January 9, 1889, reported that it had pre- 
pared a digest of the laws of the different states relating to 
compulsory education and that it had called a public meeting 
" to which members of the committee and other bodies interested 
in the enforcement of the compulsory education law" were 
invited. The committee also reported that it believed that 
an attempt should be made to enforce the old law and that the 
mayor had said that he "was ready to direct the entire police 
force to aid in the enforcement of the old law as it now stands." 
Resolutions were adopted at this same board meeting providing 
for the appointment of three attendance officers, one for each 
division of the city, who were to be under the immediate direc- 
tion and control of the special Committee on Compulsory Edu- 
cation. These attendance agents were to investigate and to 
report cases arising under the Compulsory Education act, and 
were instructed to "make daily visits to the police station in 
their respective districts and receive the poHce reports of the 
names and addresses of the children apparently between the 
ages of eight and fourteen years, whom the police have found 
on the streets during the school hours of any school day." The 
resolutions further declared that the Board of Education con- 
sidered it the duty not only of the teachers but of the engineer 
and janitor of every school to report to their principal the names 
and addresses of all chUdren between the ages of eight and 
fourteen years in their respective school districts, who were 
believed not to have attended any school for twelve weeks 
during the preceding school year. The list of all children so 
reported was to be transmitted by the principal to the clerk 
of the board at the close of each week. 

Interest in the subject continued to increase with the hope 
of obtaining a more satisfactory law from the legislature then 
in session, and on January 19, 1889, a large pubhc meeting was 



GROWTH OF THE COMPULSORY SYSTEM 57 

held in Chicago to discuss the need of an effective compulsory- 
system. On January 23, 1889, at the request of the committee 
on Compulsory Education, the board voted to increase the num- 
ber of attendance agents to seven, "three of whom shall be 
ladies"; a clerk to "collate" their statistics was appointed, and 
it was arranged that registers should be supplied to each of the 
police stations, in which cases brought to the attention of the 
poHce might be recorded. 

At the same meeting the superintendent of schools called 
attention to the relation between non-attendance and child 
labor and reported that, as a result of the agitation regarding 
the enforcement of the compulsory education law, some em- 
ployers had refused to continue to employ boys under fourteen 
without a permit from the Board of Education. 

A few months later the chairman of the Committee on Com- 
pulsory Education reported to the Board of Education that 
more than 5,200 cases of non-attending or truant children had 
been investigated by the attendance agents, and "that notices 
had been sent to the parents of 173 children who had failed to 
comply with the provisions of the Compulsory Education act, 
and that these cases were now ready for prosecution." These 
prosecutions, however, were never proceeded with, for in the 
meantime the movement for a new compulsory education law 
had been successful. 

Three bills, one relating to compulsory education, another 
to child labor, and a third to truant children, all of which had 
been adopted at a citizens' meeting and presented to the Board 
of Education, were later indorsed by the board and forwarded 
to the General Assembly at Springfield. The child labor bill 
and the truant bill died in the committee room at Springfield, 
and a compulsory education bill already pending in the legis- 
lature was accepted by the board as a substitute for its own bill. 
This substitute measure, which became a law on July i, 1889, 
was unanimously passed by the Senate, and had only six votes 



5 8 TRU-\XCY .\XD NOX-ATTEXD-\XCE IX CHICAGO 

recorded against it in the House. The new law was considered 
far from satisfactory- by those who desired a stringent and easily 
enforceable statute, but it was, in the words of the president of 
the Chicago board, accepted ''as a 'Hck and a promise,' '' in 
the behef that attempts to enforce it would demonstrate the 
necessity for amendments. The president also pointed out the 
fact that the necessar}- pro^-ision for truant cliildren and for child 
labor regulation which had been demanded by the board had 
been refused by the legislature, "They properly go with the 
compulsor}- education bill,'' he declared, "and it is necessar\^ 
to ha^-e them passed in order to have a compulsor}' education 
act in good working shape." 

The new law of 1889 was in several respects much better 
than the old law of 1883, although it still set a ven,- low edu- 
cational standard. The total period of compulsory attendance 
was increased from twelve to sixteen weeks, and attendance 
was required to be consecutive during eight weeks. A further 
improvement was contained in a pro\T.sion requiring the board 
of education in ever}^ school district to appoint one or more 
truant officers. The act also pro\-ided that children might 
attend not only pubhc schools but also any private schools 
"approved by the Board of Education," but it was expressly 
stated that only such schools as taught the common branches 
in Enghsh might be approved. 

In Chicago during the follo^\T[ig summer careful prepara- 
tions were made in order that the new law might be enforced 
when the school term began. A superintendent of compulsory 
education and twelve attendance agents were appointed. 
Special circulars explaining the law to parents, to school princi- 
pals, and to employers were drawn up and sent out by the 
Board of Education. Fifty-five thousand circulars were 
printed for parents and guardians in seven different languages, 
German, Itahan, Bohemian, Swedish, Pohsh, Yiddish, and 
Norwegian. A circular letter was sent to the principals of 171 



GROWTH OF THE COMPULSORY SYSTEM 59 

private and parochial schools on September 3, asking for the 
list of children of compulsory education age who were attending 
school; but up to November 13 only thirty- two replies had 
been received.^ 

The failure to pass a child labor law left open, of course, the 
greatest temptation to the children and their parents to dis- 
obey the compulsory education law. The Board of Education 
recognized this difficulty, and, since there was at this time no 
law prohibiting child labor except in the mines and in a few 
especially dangerous occupations, it was decided to make an 
appeal to the public spirit of the merchants and manufacturers 
who employed children between the ages of seven and fourteen 
and to ask their aid in enforcing the new law and in getting 
these children into school. The following circular was there- 
fore sent to all proprietors of shops, stores, and factories, and 
a blank was inclosed to be returned to the board with the names 
of aU the children employed in any establishment: 

The object of this circular is not only to inform you that the 
Compulsory Education Law enacted by the Legislature of the State 
of Illinois, went into effect July i, 1889, but to ask your hearty 
co-operation during the coming scholastic year, by not employing 
any children between the ages of seven and fourteen years, as set 
forth in the law. 

The Board respectfully, yet urgently, desires your assistance in 
this direction as an incentive to idle and pernicious parents and 
guardians, that they shall undertake the burden of labor and support 

' The text of the letter was as follows: "In order to carry out com- 
pletely the Compulsory Education Law of the State of Illinois, as enacted 
by the Legislature and now in force, and avoid the evasive and untruthful 
replies of children, parents or guardians, as to their attending other than 
the public schools, will you be kind enough to fill up the accompanying 
blank of the pupils attending your schools, between the ages of seven and 
fourteen years, and such additions as may occur from time to time?" — 
Proceedings of the Board of Education of Chicago, August 21, i88g, to July g, 
i8go, p. 105. 



6o TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

for their families, and permit the tender children to attend school and 
receive an education that will adapt them to labor more intelligently 
and with increased ambition 

Out of 2,591 employers to whom this circular was sent only 
300 sent any reply. A few employers expressed disapproval 
of the law, but the great majority of those who replied not only 
assured the superintendent of schools of their willingness to 
obey the law but declared their sympathy with its purpose and 
provisions.' A further step toward the control of child labor 
was the appointment of a special attendance officer for work 
in the shops, stores, and factories. Unfortunately the children 
who sold newspapers or blacked boots on the streets had no 
employers whose co-operation could be sought. These children 
who were most in need of help were then, as now, protected 
with the greatest difficulty. 

In spite of the efforts made by the Board of Education to 
carry out the provisions of the law, many difficulties were 
encountered in attempting to enforce it. Large numbers of 
people could not be made to believe that the legislature had 
the power to compel them to send their children to school. 
The condition of many of those children who were brought to 
school under compulsion showed how disastrous the old policy 
of non-enforcement had been. The superintendent reported, 
for example, that 3,528 children were "subjects for reform 
schools," and the Committee on Compulsory Education called 

' It is of interest that in these replies from employers, according to the 
superintendent of compulsory education, "many warm encomiums were 
expressed upon the benefit of the law, with the assurance that it would 
receive their hearty support; that child labor should not be permitted; 
that education was the salvation of the Republic and that they would not 
employ children between the ages designated in the law." That children 
were extensively employed at this time is indicated by the fact that a single 
mercantile firm reported 175 children under fourteen years of age employed 
in its establishment {Proceedings oj the Board of Education of Chicago, 
August 21, i88g, to July g, i8go, p. 105). 



GROWTH OF THE COMPULSORY SYSTEM 6i 

to the attention of the board " the large number of incorrigible 
children and the necessity of, by some means, providing them 
with at least the rudiments of an English education," The 
committee reported that it believed that — ■ 

this class of unfortunates, who, either from improper training and 
unwholesome surroundings at home, or from an unnatural perversity 
of disposition evade their school duties, and who, when brought to 
school by the attendance agent, cause sufficient disturbance to have 
their absence heartily desired by the teacher and principal should 
be placed in a separate room or building and under a different system 
of discipline. 

The neglected condition of some of the non-attending and 
truant children in Chicago at this time is described in the first re- 
port of the superintendent of compulsory education. Many 
parents, it was said, regarded their children "as so many money- 
making machines and kept them in filth in order to create sym- 
pathy for them." These children, it was said, could not be 
reached by the policy of moral suasion that the board had de- 
cided upon, and a delegation of citizens called and asked that 
the law be invoked in their behalf. 

The complaint was made that these neglected children had 
become so lawless and undisciplined, and their physical condi- 
tion so distressing, that their presence created great disorder 
in the schools in which they were enrolled. The superintendent 
of compulsory education thought that children of this type 
were not fit to be sent to school with other children and that an 
ungraded school or room was needed, where they could be 
placed until they acquired habits of cleanliness and order and 
until the danger of disturbing the discipline of the schools 
might be removed. Many children brought in from the streets 
and alleys, it was found, were "not fitted for the ordinary 
schoolroom, being physically as well as mentally incapaci- 
tated by their previous life for quiet and continuous study." 



62 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Moreover, these children soon dropped out of school or were 
suspended for misconduct. 

The suggestion of an ungraded room was soon followed by 
a demand for a parental school. As the president of the Board 
of Education said in his annual report: 

One of the greatest needs of the city, made almost imperative 
by the compulsory law, is a family school in each of the several sec- 
tions of the city with facilities for some simple work, as well as study, 
under the charge of well-prepared teachers, in which the little waifs 
of the community, now growing up in want and wickedness, may be 
tenderly cared for, and trained to habits of industry, intelligence, 
and honorable citizenship. 

Nearly a decade, however, was to pass before the legislature 
of Illinois passed the parental school law that was so urgently 
needed. 

The report of the work of the new truant officers during 
the first six weeks of the school year showed that the officers 
had investigated the cases of 2,191 truant and 2,691 non- 
attending children, a total of 4,882 children, of whom only 
1,523 had been returned to school. The superintendent was 
impatient of the method of moral suasion and thought that the 
law should be invoked to punish persistent violators. 

This much had been accomplished [he reported] without invoking 
the aid of the law, in a quiet persuasive manner; but there is another 
side of the question. There are a very large number of children who 
cannot be reached without the aid of the law. Many are at work 
in stores and factories who should be in the schools, who have no valid 
cause or excuse for not being there, not even poverty, for the entire 
number of such as reported are only 265 cases up to the present time.^ 

^ Proceedings of the Board of Education of Chicago, i88g-go, p. 106. 
The following extract from the superintendent's report is of interest : " One 
attendance agent reports that during the past week, no reports were received 
whatever from six schools. This would indicate that truancy is on the 
wane. The agent claims it is the success of compulsory education." It 
may, of course, have been the indifference of the principals. 



GROWTH OF THE COMPULSORY SYSTEM 63 

Much to the surprise, evidently, of the superintendent, 
poverty was alleged as the excuse for non-attendance in a very 
small number of cases. 

Throughout the year, however, the policy of moral suasion 
was adhered to and no arrests for violating the compulsory 
education law were made in Chicago, The Board of Education 
prided itself on the fact that there had been ''not a single 
instance of interference with parental authority, no prosecution 
or persecution." This policy was continued during the next 
year, and the Committee on Compulsory Education reiterated 
with evident satisfaction that, although another year had gone 
by, there had still been "no interference with parental authority, 
no arrests had been made, not a single case of prosecution or 
persecution, the strength of moral persuasiveness had been 
used in taking the children off the streets and placing them in 
school." The president of the board in his report for the year 
1889-90, noted that while the new statute had not accomplished 
all that its ardent friends desired, there had nevertheless "been 
a clear step foward"; he commended the law as sound in 
principle and called attention to the fact that the discussion 
concerning its enforcement had helped to educate the public to 
a realization of the right of the state "as a measure of public 
safety, to require that all children within its borders shall be 
given some elementary education." 

By way of summary it may be said that a great deal of 
interest and honest effort on the part of the Board of Education 
had gone into giving the law a fair trial in Chicago, and it may 
be taken as a measure of the progress made in the last twenty- 
five years that, from the standpoint of today, moral suasion 
would in general be regarded as a poor substitute for the more 
vigorous methods of enforcement that have been adopted since 
that time. 

Although poverty was alleged as an excuse for a very small 
percentage of the cases of non-attendance and truancy, it was 



64 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

a peculiarly hard excuse to meet in those few cases. The Com- 
mittee on Compulsory Education authorized the superintendent 
"in all cases of extreme poverty or infirmities" to use discretion 
in granting permission to work and to. attend night school, but 
an organized effort was also ma^to provide for the children 
who alleged lack of shoes or clothed as a reason for absence from 
school. An auxiliary committee of the Chicago Woman's Club 
founded the School Children's Aid Society/ an organization 
still in existence, whose object is to provide new shoes and 
clothing for needy school children ; and the aid of such charitable 
organizations as existed was enlisted. The county board was 
asked to appropriate "relief funds for clothing and feeding poor 
children whose parents or guardians are unable to support 
them while attending school." Rather grandiloquently it was 
said that "while the county provides homes, food, clothing, 
shoes, medicine, and medical attendance for the criminal, the 
pauper, and the invalid, it is fair to presume that it is within 

' The School Children's Aid Society has survived through all the 
changes of the last twenty-five years and is still an active organization. 
Founded in 1888 as an auxiliary committee of the Chicago Woman's Club, 
it is now maintained largely through the collection that is made for its 
support at Thanksgiving time each year in the public schools. The receipts 
from the children's oiferings amounted to nearly $16,000 in 1915. In addi- 
tion, donations of clothing are received by the society. In spite of the great 
increase in the number of charitable relief societies and in spite of the activities 
of the county agent who in 1913, for example, furnished 15,603 pairs of 
shoes to school children, the society is still maintained for the purpose for 
which it was founded, viz., to provide new clothing for children who would 
otherwise be unable to attend the Chicago public schools. Cases needing 
assistance are recommended by principals and teachers, records are kept 
of aid given, and although it is said that "each case is investigated," these 
investigations must be very inadequate, and the recommendations of the 
different principals very largely relied on. The society has no salaried 
oflScers and pays no rent. Its distributing rooms are in the centrally 
located Haven School on Wabash Avenue near Sixteenth Street. During 
1905, 4,160 children were helped and the total expenditures were $6,043 .36; 
during 1915, 8,767 children were helped and $15,921.32 expended. 



GROWTH OF THE COMPULSORY SYSTEM 65 

their province to provide clothing and shoes for indigent 
children, so that they might attend school, and in a measure 
save them from the pernicious effects of bad company and often 
very evil associates." 

The net results of the first year's work under the new law 
showed that the cases of nearly 17,500 children had been investi- 
gated by the truant ofl&cers of Chicago and that 7,380 of these 
children had been placed in the public day schools, 983 in evening 
schools, and 1,436 in private or parochial schools — a total of 
9,799 children placed in school. That is, the law, imperfect 
as it was, had brought nearly 10,000 children into the schools of 
Chicago. More than this, the law seems to have been similarly 
beneficial all over Illinois. The public school enrolment for the 
state as a whole showed an increase of 16,454 pupils over the 
preceding year. It is important to note, however, that in other 
parts of the state as well as in Chicago, whatever improvement 
in school attendance occurred was not due to prosecutions. 
Not only in Chicago, but also in Springfield and in the other 
cities of the state, not a single suit was brought, and the state 
superintendent charged that, although penalties had been 
inflicted in a few cases in rural districts, the purpose of the 
prosecution had been "to bring the law into disrepute and to 
use it as an instrument for arousing prejudice." 

But it must not be overlooked that the law had been com- 
pletely ignored in some districts and that, although school 
attendance had increased, the purposes of the law were far from 
being fulfilled. Thus the state superintendent reported at the 
close of the first year of its operation: 

The law has been very imperfectly executed. In many places 
no attempt has been made to put it in force. The unreasonable 
clamor against it has often dissuaded its friends from attempting 
its enforcement. It is quite certain that the obstructions put into 
the way of a reasonable execution of this law have had the effect 
greatly to discourage those who desire to use it as a means of doing good. 



66 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Conditions changed very slightly during the second school 
year following the enactment of the law of 1889, The number 
of attendance officers in Chicago had been increased from 7 in 
1889 to 14 in 1890 and was further increased to 18 in 1891. 
The number of cases of truant and of unenroUed children 
investigated had increased from 17,463 to 20,325, while the 
number returned to school had increased from 9,799 to 
11,254. It was also reported that, during the school year 
1890-91, 820 working permits had been issued to children 
of compulsory school age "whose necessities had compelled 
them to secure employment." But in the attempt to regu- 
late child labor an important step forward was soon to be 
taken. 

Unfortunately there was, in addition to the difficulties of 
enforcement already alluded to, a powerful influence working 
against the law throughout the state — the hostility of the 
parochial schools. The opposition of the German Lutheran 
schools in particular seems to have been aroused by the pro- 
vision of the law requiring instruction "in English" during the 
period of compulsory school attendance. Although a large 
number of the children brought in under the law, 1,500 in 
Chicago alone had been entered in parochial schools, and 
although the state as a whole showed an increase of 6,729 in the 
number of children enrolled in these schools, where there had 
been an actual decrease in enrolment during the preceding year, 
the friends of the parochial schools undoubtedly tried to pre- 
vent the enforcement of the law. 

In Chicago the controversy with the parochial schools 
seems not to have been so acute as in the rural districts, although 
the report for the year 1891-92, the second year of the operation 
of the "new" compulsory law, shows their opposition still 
active. In the annual report of the Board of Education for 
the year 1892 the following statement occurs regarding the 
parochial school situation: 



GROWTH OF THE COMPULSORY SYSTEM 67 

While there has been a controversy over some of the special 
provisions of the law relating to the language in which the children 
should be instructed, and the supervision of private schools, there 
had been no controversy that has been brought to the Board of Edu- 
cation. From the first action of enforcing the law, the attendance 
officers were instructed to notify the parents or guardians whose 
children did not attend school, that they must go to school somewhere 
for the time indicated in the statute, which was sixteen weeks. At 
no time has there been any demand made that the children should 
attend the public schools when the parents expressed a wish to have 
them attend a private school. 

The biennial report of the superintendent of schools in 
Cook County for the period 1888-90 contained the following 
interesting statement on this subject: 

It was soon learned that many of the German schools in the 
county could not provide for the proper instruction of their children 
even in English reading and writing, not including the other branches 
named in the law. The importance of being able to speak and write 
in English was generally acknowledged, but that knowledge of arith- 
metic, geography, and history should be required in English was 
resisted. In many of the German schools an honest effort was made 
to teach English. In some of them the teachers were not qualified 
to teach it, and the children in such localities do not speak the 
English language. 

In the villages and city of Chicago, where the children come in 
contact with the English-speaking children, there is no difficulty in 
acquiring the language. In the rural districts where the children 
do not hear the English language spoken, either at school or 
in the home, there certainly is need of enforcing instruction in 
English. 

It is generally conceded that the state has a right to demand that 
children shall have an opportunity to fit themselves for citizenship. 
That children should acquire the ability to read and write the English 
language, in which the laws of the land are written, is generally 
conceded. That every person should be able to perform his duty 
as a citizen, to serve on juries, and to be a witness without an 



68 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

interpreter, ought not to be disputed. Ignorance in a country where 
the people govern is dangerous to its institutions. 

The state superintendent of public instruction in his report 
for 1889-90 makes a statement which seems to have been 
designed to allay any misgivings or fears that may have been 
felt by the friends of the parochial schools. Thus he says: 

The compulsory education law does not necessarily interfere 
with parochial or other private schools. In the enactment of it 
there was no intention of such interference. It specially provides 
that attendance at such schools shall be accepted in lieu of attend- 
ance upon public schools. .... The authority conferred by the law 
upon the board of directors does not empower them to ignore the 
facts of the case, and of their own whim refuse to recognize a private 

school And the statistics of the year show, conclusively, that 

no such injury to private schools has resulted from the execution of 
the law. On the contrary, it seems to have helped them. 

Unfortunately the parochial school opposition led to the 
omission of the requirement of compulsory instruction in 
English from the later compulsory laws, and the subsequent 
development of the bilingual schools described in a later chap- 
ter must be regarded as an educational and social misfortune.* 

I For a discussion of the bilingual schools, see chap, xviii, "The Special 
Problem of the Immigrant Child." 



CHAPTER V 

PARALLEL DEVELOPMENT OF THE ILLINOIS CHILD LABOR 
AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION LAWS, 1893-1916 

The compulsory education law of 1889 was strengthened 
in July, 1891, by the first general child labor law ever passed 
by the legislature of Illinois. Unfortunately, however, the new 
child labor law was quite as crude and unsatisfactory as the 
compulsory education laws that were already on the statute 
books. It was made unlawful for any person, firm, or corpora- 
tion to employ or hire any child under thirteen years of age 
without a certificate, but the board of education was given 
authority to excuse any such child from school and to authorize 
his employment, provided his labor was needed for the support 
of any aged or infirm relative and provided the child had 
attended school at least eight weeks in the current year. The 
system of allowing children to work if their relatives seemed to 
be in need meant, of course, that the children most in need of 
the protection of child labor and compulsory education laws 
would be entirely excluded from their benefits. The law was 
also weak in that it contained no provision for enforcement. 
While the child under thirteen could not be employed unless 
he had a certificate from the board of education, no machinery 
was provided for issuing such certificates, nor was any proof of 
age required to show that children who were employed were 
over the compulsory attendance age. 

In Chicago the way had been prepared for a child labor law 
by the City Council, which had passed an ordinance prohibiting 
the employment of children under fourteen unless they had 
special work-permits issued by the superintendent of compul- 
sory education. During the year a special attendance officer 

69 



70 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

was detailed by the Board of Education to visit factories and to 
notify employers of the provision of the law, but the work of 
this single inspector was necessarily ineffective, and the super- 
intendent of schools reported that those who had investigated 
the subject believed that many children under fourteen years 
of age were working in factories in different parts of the city. 
Moreover, under the authority of the Board of Education many 
children had been "excused" from school because of their 
poverty. During the year, 1,077 children between the ages of 
ten and thirteen years were officially "excused" from school 
and given work-permits for the following reasons: 288 because 
of "poverty," 261 because of "intemperance" (presumably 
the intemperance of their fathers who were thus rendered in 
need of their children's earnings), 508 because they were orphans 
or deserted by their parents, and 20 for miscellaneous reasons. 
All that Chicago could do for her dependent children was to 
give them work-permits and excuses from school, allowing 
them to work in factories and support themselves and their 
intemperate parents. 

Recommendations looking toward certain definite improve- 
ments in the compulsory education law were made by a com- 
mittee of the Chicago Board of Education in 1892 at the close 
of the school year. Two important changes were suggested: 
first, that the law should require compulsory school attendance 
of all children under thirteen years of age, during the entire 
time that the schools were in session; and, second, that pro- 
vision should be made for the enforcement of a penalty against 
parents or guardians who wilfully deprived their children of the 
benefits of an education. The committee pointed out that, as 
a result of the fact that no penalty had ever been imposed for 
the wilful violation of the compulsory law, many people had 
come to disregard the official notices which were sent to them, 
and positively refused to comply with the requirements of the 
law. Many instances, it was said, had been reported where 



CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION LAWS 71 

parents and guardians had "wilfully compelled young children 
to labor that they might profit by their small earnings. Had 
the law been enforced in a few of the extreme cases of such 
violations, as reported by the attendance officers, the effect 
would have been wholesome on a large number who would 
have immediately complied with the reasonable provisions of 
the statutes." 

The report of the committee also called attention to the 
lack of provision "for the care, maintenance, and education of 
neglected and wayward children." The schools were unable 
to meet the needs of these children who were frequently brought 
into the schoolrooms off the streets, who were unaccustomed 
to a disciplinary routine, and who were a source of demoral- 
ization to the other children. Separate schools were recom- 
mended for these children, where special provision could be 
made not only for their schooling but "for their bodily care 
and proper preparation for contact with others in a school- 
room." The wastefulness of the failure to provide for these 
children was emphasized. According to the report, 

the statistics of the Police Court, the County Jail and Bridewell, 
show a large number of children who annually become violators of 
the law, and are placed under arrest. They are then supported at 
public expense in a building built by public taxes, and cared for and 
watched by paid officers. These children have become criminals, 
and a charge upon the city or county by somebody's neglect. The 
Board of Education has not been authorized to care for this class of 
children. Nobody cared for them until they became violators of the 
law, and enemies to good society. Provision should be made at once 
for the detention and support of neglected children, and they should 
receive a training and instruction that will lead them to habits of 
cleanliness, order, submission to authority, and a useful life. 

But at this time a new and dramatic influence was brought 
to bear upon the compulsory education situation — the influence 
of Hull-House, Chicago's first "social settlement," which had 



72 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

been established a few years earlier by Miss Jane Addams in 
the heart of the great industrial neighborhood of Chicago's 
"West Side." Among the little group of social reformers who 
joined Miss Addams in the early days of the settlement was 
Mrs. Florence Kelley, who for nearly a quarter of a century was 
to be the embodiment of the public conscience on the subject 
of child labor and its attendant evils. The residents of the 
new settlement, living where they saw day by day how inade- 
quate and ineffective the child labor and compulsory education 
laws really were, set about securing the necessary improvements 
in these laws. Mrs. Kelley, as a first step, suggested to the 
Illinois State Bureau of Labor Statistics that an investigation 
of the sweating system should be made in Chicago, for she 
believed that large numbers of children who should have been 
in school were at work in sweatshops all over the West Side. 
Not only was the suggestion adopted, probably because of the 
social sympathies of the radical Governor Altgeld, but Mrs. 
Kelley was commissioned as a special investigator to make this 
inquiry; and as a result of the presentation of her report to the 
next legislature, a special legislative committee was appointed 
to report on Chicago institutions.^ The report of this special 
committee, supported by the untiring efforts of the labor unions 
and by the propaganda carried on by Miss Addams and Mrs. 
Kelley, secured the passage in the next legislature of a new 
"act concerning the education of children" and a new child 
labor law,^ both of which went into effect on the first of July, 
1893. 

Unfortunately, the new compulsory education law was still 
far from being the effective measure that was needed. It 

' See Tiventy Years at Hull-House, pp. 198-208, for an account of early 
child labor conditions as seen by Miss Addams and her fellow-residents at 
Hull-House. 

^ This was called "An act to regulate the manufacture of clothing, 
wearing apparel and other articles." — Session Laws, 1893, pp. loo-ioi. 



CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION LAWS 73 

marked no real advance over the old law and in some respects 
was even less satisfactory. It contained the same provision 
as the law of 1889 requiring sixteen weeks' school attendance 
during the year, and it extended the required period of consecu- 
tive attendance from eight to twelve weeks. But the old pro- 
vision that the compulsory regulations could be met only by 
attendance at schools offering instruction "in English" was 
dropped to please the friends of the parochial schools, and the 
appointment of truant ofi&cers, which in the earlier law had 
been mandatory on boards of education, was in the new law 
made permissive^ — two distinctly retrograde steps. 

The new child labor law, on the other hand, was a brilliant 
piece of social legislation for that time. Mrs. Kelley's impetu- 
ous fire and her vivid and relentless pictures of child labor 
conditions had been irresistible. The new law provided that 
children under fourteen could no longer work in "factories, 
manufacturing establishments, and workshops"; that children 
under sixteen must furnish affidavits giving their age; and that 
every employer must keep a register and post a wall list con- 
taining the names, ages, and addresses of all children under that 
age employed in his establishment. Most important of all, the 
law carried provisions for its enforcement by providing for a 
department of factory inspection with a chief factory inspector 
and twelve deputies, and Governor Altgeld distinguished him- 
self by appointing Mrs. Kelley as the first chief factory inspector 
of Illinois. The law also contained an advanced provision, 
which unfortunately proved to be ineffective, giving the factory 
inspectors the right to demand a doctor's certificate of physical 
fitness from any working child under sixteen and to prohibit 
the child's employment if a certificate could not be obtained. 

' In the law of 1889 it was provided that "it shall be the duty of the 
Board of Education to appoint . . . ." while the new law of 1893 merely 
provided that "the Board of Education may at their discretion appoint 
one or more persons." 



74 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The law was still weak in many respects, and Mrs. Kelley 
never allowed the public to forget that, however much had been 
done, there was still a great deal that had been left undone. 
The children of Illinois were not yet as well protected as the 
children of Massachusetts or New York. The new Illinois law, 
for example, applied only to manufacturing establishments, 
and it was not until 1897 that its provisions were extended to 
"offices, stores, and mercantile establishments." Nothing was 
done and up to the present time nothing has yet been done by 
the state for the street-trading children, who are still waiting 
for protection. Mrs. Kelley, in the chief factory inspector's 
report for 1894, spoke of the neglected condition of these chil- 
dren; there were, she said, among them thousands of children 
between seven and fourteen who were still not attending school, 

a horde of little peddlers of fruit, vegetables, and other wares. These 
children learn no trade and form only habits of roaming the street^ 
irresponsible and lawless. When children are expelled from school 
at eleven years of age, and prohibited from working in factories until 
fourteen, they are apt to fall into this class. They could be reached 
by requiring every peddler or vendor under sixteen years of age to 
obtain a license from the State Factory Inspector, and prohibiting 
all such work for children under the age of fourteen years, and for 
illiterate children under sixteen years. 

The experience of a few months with these two laws clearly 
demonstrated one fact — that a well-enforced compulsory edu- 
cation law must precede or accompany a child labor law if 
child labor is really to be prohibited or even regulated. A good 
compulsory education law, well enforced, may in fact prevent 
child labor, whereas a child labor law unaccompanied by a com- 
pulsory education law takes children out of the factories and 
workshops only to throw them into the street. 

The very interesting sections dealing with the subject of 
child labor in Mrs. Kelley's first annual report are reprinted 
in an appendix to this volume, and attention may be called, in 



CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION LAWS 75 

passing, to the fact that these first four reports of the state 
factory inspectors of lUinois, prepared while Mrs. Kelley was 
in charge of the office, are Uke no other official reports that have 
ever been issued in the state, so moving and human are they, 
so full of indignant satire, so honest in their relentless descrip- 
tion of conditions as they really existed, with no attempt to 
cover up or conceal the evils with which the state must deal. 
The first of these remarkable "annual reports" shows that 
one of the most lamentable results of the inadequacy of the 
compulsory education laws was a shocking state of illiteracy 
among the children. Children unable to spell their names, 
or the names of the streets on which they lived, were found 
at work every day by the indefatigable inspectors of this 
new state department. In her report the chief inspector 
declared: 

Where these children are under fourteen years of age, they are 
turned over to the compulsory attendance officer of the Board of 
Education, but for those over the age of fourteen the state prescribes 
no educational requirement, and unless they look deformed, under- 
sized, or diseased, the inspectors have no ground upon which to 
withdraw them from their life of premature toil. And in no case 
can we insist upon rudimentary education for them. 

In this respect the Illinois law is far from abreast with the laws 
of Massachusetts and New York. In Massachusetts every child 
must attend some school throughout the period during which the 
public schools are in session until fourteen years of age. And in 
towns and cities in which there is manual training in the schools, 
the children must attend school until the completion of the fifteenth 
year. New York goes even further, and empowers her inspectors 
to order peremptorily the discharge of any child under sixteen years 
of age who cannot read and write simple sentences in the English 
language. Such a clause as this last one would cause the transfer 
of many hundreds of Illinois children from the factory to the school- 
room,^ 

^ First Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of Illinois (1893), p. 14. 



76 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Another difficulty encountered by the chief factory inspector 
was the fact that many of the children who were in the greatest 
need of schooling were expelled or suspended for bad conduct 
soon after they were placed in school. Before 1893 the school 
authorities had already called attention to the neglected state 
of these children, but professed themselves helpless until a 
parental school law should make it possible to care for them 
outside of the regular schoolrooms. 

Instead of suspending refractory and vicious children from our 
schools [said the annual report of the Chicago Board of Education] 
provision should be made so that a child who is not manageable with 
better children, shall first be placed under the care of special teachers 
in a disciplinary school, and when they become unmanageable by 
parents and teachers, they should be confined in a parental home or 
school, thus providing a means of properly educating and training 
every child.^ 

The school census of 1894 showed 6,887 children between 
the ages of seven and fourteen out of school, a fact to which 
Mrs. Kelley repeatedly called public attention. The work of 

^ Thirty-ninth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago 
(1893), pp. 65-67: "Suspension is the extreme penalty which can be 
imposed upon a wilfully disobedient pupil. Before this can be done, every 
possible moral influence is exerted to secure obedience, appeals are made to 
parents to co-operate with the teachers, finally temporary suspension from 
school for some repeated offense or rebellious act results in permanent with- 
drawal from school. In many instances these children are made to work 
when they leave school, and through the discipline of continuous hard work 
finally become law-abiding citizens. But many who drop out of school 
become a menace to good government, vagrants, lawbreakers, ultimately 

criminals and inmates of the jail, bridewell, reform school and prison 

No provision is made for their restraint, until they violate some law under 
which they can be arrested as criminals, and then they are committed to 

the jail, bridewell or prison Other cities have also discussed the 

problem and the school board of Boston has secured the enactment of a law 
under which they are building a parental school. The time has come when 
Chicago must act in this matter." 



CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION LAWS 77 

her own department was, she reiterated, entirely nuUified, so far 
as the protection of the children was concerned, by the inabihty 
of the school authorities to place in school the children removed 
by her inspectors from factories and workshops. The intimation 
is plain in Mrs. Kelley's reports that the Chicago Board of 
Education was not doing its duty, and she repeatedly urged 
that the prosecution of parents who disobeyed the law should 
be made mandatory upon boards of education which then 
boasted of the fact that they relied wholly on "moral suasion."^ 
In her second annual report Mrs. Kelley says: 

Although the law prohibits absolutely the employment of any 
child under fourteen years of age in manufacture, yet the children 
under fourteen years can never be wholly kept out of the factories 
and workshops until they are kept in school. At present the school 
attendance law is almost useless, at least in Chicago, where the largest 
number of children have been found at work. Although the Chicago 
Board of Education employs attendance agents, yet children leave 
school to sell papers; to carry cash in stores, and telegrams and mes- 
sages in streets; to peddle, black boots, "tend the baby," or merely 
to idle about. Unruly children are expelled from school to suit the 
convenience of teachers. Principals of schools have sent to the 
inspectors children eleven years old, with the written request that 
permits be granted to enable the children to go to work (in violation 
of the factory law) because in each case the child is "incorrigible." 
As no factory can be a better place for a child eleven years old than 

' See for example the Thirty-ninth Annual Report of the Board of Edu- 
cation of Chicago (1893), p. 65: "The enactment of a new law by the 
legislature to protect children in their educational rights did not make it 
necessary to change the organization of the department of compulsory edu- 
cation. No enforcement of the penalties for violation of the statute has 
ever been attempted in Chicago. The school officers notify the parents or 
guardians of children who are under fourteen years of age and who do not 
attend any school, that the law requires each child to attend some school, 
at least sixteen weeks in the year, and urge compliance with the law. Prob- 
ably three thousand children were either brought into the schools for the 
first time during the year or were returned after absence." 



78 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

a reasonably good school, this request voices the desire of the principal 
to be relieved of the trouble of the child. 

Of the thousands of children out of work, it was charged 
that "hundreds are seeking work in shops and factories, and 
when they find work and the laws of the state are thereby- 
violated, the task of prosecution, which should fall in part at 
least on the Board of Education of Chicago, devolves upon the 
State Factory Inspectors alone." The charge was also made 
that out of 103 children reported to the Department of Compul- 
sory Education by the factory inspectors during the three 
months of the fall term of 1893, only 31 were ever placed in 
school. Some of the remaining children were not found, 
others were given permits to work in stores, others were dropped 
as "incorrigible," and finally, "in fifteen cases the mere state- 
ment of the parent that the child was over fourteen was received 
by the compulsory department as sufficient reason for dropping 
the case, although in each such case the parent declined, in 
dealing with us, to make affidavit to show the child to be more 
than fourteen years old." In the report for 1894, Mrs. Kelley 
charged that the child labor law was being nullified by the 
indifference of the educational authorities. She wrote vigor- 
ously as follows: 

The humane intent of the first clause of Section 4 of the workshop 
and factory law is obvious : that the child under fourteen years is to 
be safeguarded by the state against employment injurious to it. 
This intent is nullified if the child is not kept in school, but drifts 
from one workshop into another, or from the factories into the 
streets. We therefore recommend that the legislature make the 
prosecution of derelict parents not as it now is, merely discretionary 
with the local school boards, but mandatory upon them; as the 
prosecution of manufacturers is made mandatory upon the factory 
inspectors by Section 9 of the factory law. 

Mrs. Kelley also pointed out that although the state factory 
inspectors had obtained the conviction of twenty-five employers 



CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION LAWS 79 

upon thirty-three charges of having in their factories or work- 
shops children under fourteen years of age, not once had any of 
these parents been prosecuted under the school laws for permitting 
their children's unlawful employment and absence from school. 
As a result of Mrs. Kelley's persistent and disquieting 
charges, the standing Committee of the Board of Education 
on Compulsory Education again took up the much-vexed 
question as to the value of the Department of Compulsory 
Education. This committee recommended, as other com- 
mittees had done, the establishment of a parental school for 
non-attending and incorrigible children^ and such changes in the 
law as were necessary to make mandatory the prosecution of 
indifferent parents who were neglecting their children. The 
final and astonishing recommendation was that the Depart- 
ment of Compulsory Education should be either curtailed or 
abolished, since its efforts on behalf of the children most needing 
service were ineffectual. The committee not only recom- 

' The report of the committee contains the following statement : "These 
are largely the children of widows, and no law reaches them, for it would be 
obviously unjust to fine the mother for the non-attendance of the child 
when what she most desires is to secure such attendance. 

"Many parents have come to the Chairman of this Committee reciting 
those conditions and asking counsel as to what to do to prevent their 
children from drifting into a criminal life, as the mothers recognized would 
be the result if they were left to grow up under these street influences. 
Some provision should be made for such children by establishing and main- 
taining a parental school to which they could be sent on application of 
parents for a longer or shorter time as circumstances required. Such 
schools are to be found in England and in some of our older states, and they 
pay for themselves a thousand times over in the prevention of criminality 
and pauperism. 

"The second class, which the law fails to affect, are the children of 
dissipated and careless parents, through whose neglect the child is per- 
mitted to grow up in ignorance and crime. The fine and imprisonment 
should be enforced against such, but the imperfections of the present law 
are such that, with the best efforts of the committees and the attorney of 
the board, no case has ever been made out to the satisfaction of the law." 
— Fortieth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago (1894), pp. 
155-59- 



8o TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

mended the abolition of the department, but suggested that the 
funds used for the salaries of the attendance officers be diverted 
to support a kindergarten system. The whole report was an 
open confession of failure on the part of the board in face of the 
chief factory inspector's running fire of criticism. The Depart- 
ment of Compulsory Education had failed, according to the 
committee, "in getting into school the large class of non- 
attendants." It was pointed out that the average attendance 
of children returned to school through the agents was only 
thirty-five days (six weeks of the school year), and that the 
non-attendant children, for whom the law was chiefly designed, 
usually remained in school but a few days at a time. 

They are brought in [said the report], stay a day or two, disappear; 
are again hunted up, come for a day or two, and stop, and so on. 
Under these conditions your Committee feel justified in asking if the 
money spent on the Compulsory Department could not be better 
expended and do more good if used to extend the kindergarten 
system^ .... Your committee therefore beg leave to suggest that 

' The following extract further explains this somewhat vague kinder- 
garten plan proposed by a committee of which two well-known club women 
were members: "If the child could be put in the kindergarten during the 
years that, too young for the school, he is, by the poverty or neglect of 
parents, left to the demoralizing influences of the streets, he would never 
acquire the tastes and habits that lead him to truancy in later life. Your 
chairman believes that prevention is better than cure, that coaxing is better 
than coercion, that the mental and moral influences of the kindergarten 
cannot be overestimated in shaping the child's nature during the years when 
well-to-do parents are giving their best thought and time to their children 
but when the parents of the poor child are compelled to neglect his mental 
and moral nature in order to provide bare sustenance for his physical. 

" Careful research into the history of pauperism and criminality seems 
to show that the child's bent is fixed before his seventh year. If the influ- 
ences surrounding him before that time are for good, if he has proper moral 
training, if his life and habits are carefully guarded, the majority of healthy 
children will go on with a vigorous and healthy moral and physical develop- 
ment. If childhood is neglected, if difference between right and wrong, if 
in fact the evil instead of the good is developed up to that time, in the 
majority of cases no after effort will atone, and the child will mature lawless 
and uncontrolled, and the final end will be the jail or the poorhouse." 



CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION LAWS 8i 

in another year the Department of Compulsory Education be cur- 
tailed and abolished, and that, in its place, the kindergarten be 
maintained, believing the latter will do far more for the prevention 
of truancy than the former can do under the most favorable circum- 
stances to overcome the habit once formed. 

The astonishing recommendation of this committee that 
funds set aside for the support of the compulsory attendance 
officers be used to instal a kindergarten system was not adopted, 
and the Department of Compulsory Education was retained, 
although it continued to be thoroughly ineffectual. In 1896, 
after three years' experience as chief factory inspector, Mrs. 
Kelley announced in the annual report of the chief factory 
inspector that the compulsory school law remained "a, dead 
letter," that no prosecution had ever been undertaken for its 
enforcement by any board of education, and that the weakness 
of its provisions continued to serve as an excuse for continued 
failure to prosecute parents for violating it. Children were 
as illiterate as before the passage of the laws of 1893, Mrs. 
Kelley afl&rmed, and she also charged that many of those 
nominally in school were attending non-English parochial 
schools. "The educational status of the children found at 
work shows no improvement," her official report states with 
no uncertain emphasis. "From garment and cigar-shops, 
children are still taken into court as witnesses in factory cases 
who speak no English, some of them having lived several years 
in the state in dense foreign colonies; and going to school, if at 
all, where English is not taught." Mrs. Kelley also attacked 
the City Council for reducing the school appropriation and the 
Board of Education for its failure to make adequate school pro- 
vision for its children: 

Until there are schools for the children, and a compulsory edu- 
cation law that is enforced, the factory inspectors cannot keep all 
the children under fourteen years out of factories and workshops. 



82 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

While an effective factory law is the best possible supplement to a 
good compulsory education law, neither can take the place of the 
other; and the attempt to enable the factory inspectors to do the 
work of truant officers can never be successful In manu- 
facturing centers there is the same lack of school accommodations 
to which attention has been called in previous reports, as one great 
reason for the illiteracy prevailing among working children in this 
state. In Chicago, the City Council has taken a distinctly retro- 
grade step in reducing the school appropriations by $2,000,000 for 
1896-97, thus checking the building of school houses, and depriving 
thousands of working-class children of the opportunity for school life 
which primary schools are supposed to extend to all alike. That 
the working children are thus vitally affected, the report of the 
Chicago Board of Education for 1896 shows. 

Unfortunately the school board had brought this rebuke 
down upon itself by complaining the year before that it found 
enough to do in making provision for the children who were will- 
ing to come to school without compulsion, and the implication 
was that the board felt that it might be excused from worrying 
about the children who did not wish to attend its schools. 
The following statement in the annual report of the board for 
the year 1894-95 regarding the compulsory education situation 
called forth much criticism : 

The fifteen truant agents, appointed by the Board of Education 
to visit different sections of the city and to notify the parents of 
children who do not attend school, that the law requires them to do 
so, have done the best they could under the existing conditions. The 
law is ineffective, because no penalty can be enforced. Some good 
is accomplished by serving notices upon parents that the children 
should attend school, but wherever parents are indifferent or deliber- 
ately keep their children from school, no effort has been made to 
enforce the law. Under the city statutes relating to vagrants, 
children who are found upon the streets could be arrested, and the 
parents could be reached by the police. Chicago fails to give this 



CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION LAWS 83 

class of children the education and training which would redeem 
many, and bring them to better citizenship. The Board of Edu- 
cation very naturally finds much to do in caring for the two hundred 
thousand children who are enrolled and glad to come to school 
without compulsion. 

It has been said that Mrs. Kelley never allowed the state to 
believe that anything more than "an initial measure" on behalf 
of its neglected children had been secured. As early as 1894 she 
had pointed out in one of her reports that, compared with the 
codes of protective legislation of the states of Massachusetts, 
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and 
Rhode Island, the Illinois law was 

merely an initial measure intended to mitigate certain conspicuous 
evils. WhUe prohibiting the employment of children under fourteen 
years of age, it does not, like the New York law, place a premium on 
the school attendance of such children by prohibiting their employ- 
ment to the age of sixteen in case they fail to read and write simple 
English. While empowering the inspectors to demand health certifi- 
cates for certain children, it provides no physicians to furnish the 
certificates, but leaves them to be furnished to all comers by any 
physician. While permitting thousands of children to go to work at 
fourteen years of age, it affords them no safeguards against falling 
down elevator shafts, burning up for want of fire escapes, being 
mangled in unguarded belting and shafting, or mutilated by uncovered 
saws and unprotected stamps. It provides for no notice to the 
inspectors of accidents occurring in factories, and empowers no one 
to require modern ventUation and sanitation where employes are 
poisoned by foul drains, bad air or hurtful fumes engendered in their 
work. 

Viewed as an initial measure [Mrs. Kelley conceded, and it was 
her only concession], the Illinois law must be regarded as a promising 
beginning; but compared with the codes of the other states it must 
be admitted that it does not effectively guard the employes in factories 
in their life, limbs, health or intelligence; and is far from insuring 
the people of the state against an increasing burden of orphan children 



84 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

and of cripples, consumptives and other invalids, deprived of the 
power of self-support by preventable evils in the places in which they 
work. 

The conditions so vividly described by Mrs. Kelley caused 
so much dissatisfaction that, in 1897, a new child labor law 
was enacted which was strengthened by a new compulsory 
education law. The old child labor law, which had applied 
only to factories, was now extended to ''offices, stores, and 
mercantile establishments," and some ineffective but well- 
meant protective measures for children between the ages of 
fourteen and sixteen were added. The hours of work for such 
children were limited to ten in one day and sixty in one week, 
and they were prohibited from working at extra-hazardous 
occupations. The most important improvement relating to 
the better enforcement of the law was a provision that put the 
burden of proof on the employer in case of violation. The 
presence of a child under sixteen in any work-place was declared 
to be prima facie evidence of his employment. 

Along with these substantial improvements in the child 
labor law went some unsubstantial additions to the compulsory 
education law. The new law, called "An act to promote attend- 
ance in schools and to prevent truancy" was still very weak. 
The period of compulsory attendance, a meager sixteen weeks 
of the school term, remained unchanged, but there was a slight 
improvement which made the period of consecutive attendance 
begin at a definite time, that is, with the opening of the school 
term for children under ten years of age, and on December i 
for those over ten. This provision, of course, made the enforce- 
ment of the school attendance period more practicable. The 
appointment of truant officers was made mandatory, as in the 
old law of 1889, instead of permissive as in 1893, but the much- 
desired provision for a parental school was not included in the 
statute. The improvements made were obviously too slight 
to be of any real value. In fact, nothing short of compulsory 



CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION LAWS 85 

attendance during the entire school term, and a good parental 
school, could really take the children off the streets and place 
them in the schoolroom. Hope of any successful results from 
the new laws was short-lived.^ Renewed pressure for an ade- 
quate law was brought to bear on public opinion, on the Board 
of Education, and on the legislature, by the report of an edu- 
cational commission that had been authorized by the City 
Council in December, 1897, appointed by Mayor Harrison in 
January, 1898, and which reported in 1899. This commission 
in dealing with the subject of compulsory attendance reported 
that the principle of compulsory school attendance had become 
well established, but that a more adequate law was needed in 
Illinois, and also recommended the "establishment of one or 

' That such hope was entertained is clear enough. The Committee on 
Compulsory Education reported in 1897: "The great difficulty heretofore 
has been in a defective law. Evidence to convict negligent parents has not 
been easy of access. The recent legislature, however, remedied some of 
these defects, and now mandatory features have supplemented evasive 
provisions. 

"It has been optional with boards of education in our state as to 
whether a department of compulsory education should be maintained. 
Now there is a strict requirement in this regard, and we herewith present 
the statute in force which makes it possible to institute legal proceedings 
against offending parents or guardians." — Forty -third Annual Report of the 
Board of Education of Chicago (1897), p. 155. 

After a year's work under the law the superintendent of compulsory 
education reported as follows: "The law under which we are working is 
much better than the old one. In nearly all instances we succeeded in 
bringing delinquent parents to terms. We have served about fifty notices, 
and in only one case the department deemed it necessary to prosecute, and 
the negligent parent was fined. We should rightfully have the power to 
arrest all these little beggars, loafers and vagabonds that infest our city, 
take them from the streets and place them in schools where they are com- 
pelled to receive education and learn moral principles"; and again it is 
emphatically stated that "we certainly should not permit a reckless and 
indifferent part of our population to rear their children in ignorance to 
become a criminal and lawless class within our community." — Forty- 
fourth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago (1898), p. 170. 



88 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

under fourteen and as "necessary and lawful employment" 
excuses children between fourteen and sixteen from school 
attendance, these children are not as yet effectively protected. 

The legislature of 1903 not only made radical changes in 
the compulsory education law, but also revolutionized the child 
labor law, so that it provided both for a shorter working day 
and working week for children under sixteen and for the extension 
of its provisions to occupations not hitherto brought under 
regulation. It also provided that, before a child could lawfully 
be employed, he must obtain an age and school certificate, 
testifying both that he was of the required age and that he was 
able to read and write simple sentences. 

By the provisions of these two laws, which were passed in 
1903, compulsory school attendance was for the first time made 
possible. The old difficulty of ascertaining whether a child 
had attended school for the required period was done away with 
by extending the compulsory period to cover the entire school 
term. The old inducement to fraudulent evasion of- the law 
by the false affidavits of parents that their children were of 
working age was ended by the abolition of the affidavit system 
and by the substitution of the new age and school certificates 
which should be issued by the school authorities as evidence 
of the child's "right to work." 

After reviewing the history of these attempts at compulsory 
attendance legislation, we are inevitably brought to the ques- 
tion, How far is education really compulsory in Chicago or 
Illinois today ? Is the present law entirely adequate and satis- 
factory both in its provisions and in the methods adopted for 
its enforcement ? It will be the purpose of the chapters that 
follow to attempt to answer these questions. 

fourteen. Unfortunately, however, children between fourteen and sixteen 
were to be excused if "necessarily and lawfully employed during the hours 
when the public school is in session." This exemption practically nullified 
the extension of the law. The failure of this attempt to provide for chil- 
dren between fourteen and sixteen will be discussed later. 



PART II 

PRESENT CONDITIONS AND METHODS 
OF TREATMENT 



CHAPTER VI 

EXTENT OF TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO: 

A STUDY OF THE ATTENDANCE RECORDS OF 

NINE SELECTED SCHOOLS 

An account has already been given of the machinery used 
by the Department of Compulsory Education in Chicago, and 
the history of the statutes requiring this machinery has been 
traced. It is now possible, therefore, to discuss the problem 
of school attendance as it presents itself today in Chicago 
and in the suburban districts of Cook County. A study of 
non-attendance in some of the smaller towns, villages, and rural 
districts in the state would also be of great interest, but the 
scope of the present study has been necessarily restricted to 
Chicago and its suburbs. 

The first question of interest in connection with such a prob- 
lem relates to the extent of truancy and non-attendance. That 
is, in studying any social problem, it is important in the begin- 
ning to obtain if possible some definite facts regarding its size 
and importance. 

It is difficult, however, to make an exact statement regard- 
ing the number of truant or non-attending children in Chicago 
during the past year or during any previous year. Statistics 
are published each year by the Department of Compulsory 
Education, showing the number of children reported to the 
truant officers, the number of children brought into the Juvenile 
Court, and the number of parents who have been brought into 
the Municipal Court on the charge of violating the compulsory 
education law. But these statistics represent only the cases 
dealt with by the Department of Compulsory Education and 
not the total number of children or parents who have violated 
the law. 



90 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The largest group of children dealt with by the Department 
of Compulsory Education are those reported to the truant 
officers for investigation. Table I shows the number of children 
reported to the truant officers for investigation and the number 
of cases in which the children were returned to school from the 
time of the organization of the department in 1889 to the present 
time. 

TABLE I 

Number of Children Reported to Truant Officers for Investiga- 
tion AND Number Returned to School* 



Year 



Investigations 



Returns 



Public Schools Private Schools 



Total 



1089-90. . . 
1890-91 . . . 
1891-92. . . 
1892-93 . . . 
1893-94... 
1894-95 . . . 
1895-96. . . 
1896-97 . . . 
1897-98. .. 
1898-99. . . 
1899-1900. 
1900-1901 . 
1901-2. . . . 

1902-3 

1903-4. . . . 

1904-S 

1905-6 

1906-7 . . . . 
1907-8. . . . 
1908-9. . . . 
1909-10. . . 
1910-11 . . . 
1911-12. . . 
1912-13.. . 
1913-14... 



17,463 
20,325 
12,906 
14,683 
8,375 
11,878 
13,121 

13,990 
16,596 

17,19s 
31,593 
33,684 
33,002 

33,617 
36,516 



See 

explanation 

in text 



8,363 
10,581 

7,157 
6,024 

3,025 
4,052 
5,710 
6,482 

9,143 

9,027 

16,490 

18,621 

18,411 

17,134 
21,611 

25,247 



30,014 
33,912 
38,122 
44,472 
48,770 
50,301 



1,436 
673 
435 

1,714 
202 

365 



lOI 

67 
291 

178 

174 
136 

237 
350 



1,052 

3,583 
8,362 

12,525 
12,601 

13,554 



46,769 



11,295 



9,799 
11,254 

7,592 

7,738 

3,227 

4,417 

5,920 

6,562 

9,244 

9,094 

16,781 

18,799 

18,585 

17,270 

21,848 

25,597 
26,888 
31,066 

37,495 

46,484 

56,997 

61,371 

63,855t 

59,696$ 

58,064$ 



*It should be noted that these figures show not the number of children but the number of 
"returns" to school. One child may have been returned several times. 

tCorresponding figures not published. 

JDoes not include truants returned to school, since the returns to public and private 
schools are not given for absence due to truancy in these years. 



EXTENT OF TRUANCY IN CHICAGO 91 

Beginning with the year 1904-5, the reports of the depart- 
ment do not give separate figures for ''investigations" and 
"returns." The totals from that date given in this table under 
returns are referred to in the reports of the department as 
"investigated and returned" or "returnable absences investi- 
gated." 

Obviously, the increase in the number of children for whom 
the services of the truant officer were needed should be com- 
pared with the increase in the total number of children attending 
school. Unfortunately, however, the reports of the depart- 
ment give, not the total number of children, but the number of 
returns made, and one child may have been returned several 
times. It seems unprofitable, therefore, to attempt to make a 
more exact comparison of the work of the department in differ- 
ent years by percentage increases, but attention should be called 
to the fact that the increase in truancy indicated by the increase 
in the number of children returned to school is probably not 
greater than it should be in comparison with the increase in 
the total number of children attending school. 

Attention should be called to another point of importance 
indicated in the table — ^the sudden increase in the number of 
children from private schools, beginning in the year 1907-8. 
This increase is to be explained by the extension of the authority 
of the Department of Compulsory Education to the private 
schools in March, 1908, which will be discussed in a later 
chapter.^ 

For these last four years then, there have been each year 
about 60,000 cases of absent children referred to the truant 
officers for investigation and for the most part returned to school. 
How far the absences of these tens of thousands of children were 
justified, there is no way of determining. Certainly only a very 
small percentage were "wilful truants." Statistics published 

' See chap, x, "The Habitual Truant and the Schoohroom Incorrigible," 
P- 154. 



92 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

in the annual reports of the Board of Education throw further 
light on this point. Thus, for the year 1913-14, the last year 
for which a published report is available, there were in addition 
to the 58,064 children whose absences were investigated, 3,399 
children who are described in the report as "wilful truants." 
Records of the Juvenile Court show further that there were 
during the same year 496 boys and 3 girls brought into the 
Juvenile Court, and the reports of the board show that 1,236 
parents were warned by the Department of Compulsory Edu- 
cation that unless their children were promptly placed in school 
they would be prosecuted in the Municipal Court by the depart- 
ment because all other methods had failed to make them comply 
with the provisions of the compulsory attendance laws. 

Although the number of truant children who have passed 
through the hands of the Department of Compulsory Education 
makes a large total, these figures represent only a small pro-* 
portion of the truancy and non-attendance of any year. For 
there are always children absent without cause who are merely 
warned by the principal and not referred to a truant officer; 
there are also those children whose absence from school has 
escaped the notice of the school authorities entirely; and 
finally there are the children supposed by the principal and 
the teachers to be absent for what is considered sufficient 
cause or "a good excuse." As a matter of fact, in a large 
majority of cases, only a very careful investigation made in the 
home can show whether or not the child's absence is really 
necessary or not. 

Children "excused for cause" are, of course, regarded by 
the school authorities, not as wilful truants, but as non-attending 
children absent for excusable reasons and therefore not in need 
of discipline. But the effect of non-attendance is as disastrous 
to educational progress as is truancy itself, for whether the 
child's absence is sanctioned by the parents or is in opposition 
to their wishes, that is, whether the child is a non-attendant 



EXTENT OF TRUANCY IN CHICAGO 93 

or a truant, the effect upon his school work is the same. He 
misses the school session, falls behind in his school work, and 
suffers the demoralizing consequences of irregularity. There 
will, of course, always be a residuum of non-attendance due to 
causes that cannot be removed. What is needed is that this 
residuum shall be an ''irreducible minimum." A study of non- 
attendance and its causes is therefore a matter of supreme 
educational and social importance, in order that any absences 
beyond this irreducible minimum may be prevented. The 
vast, the overwhelming majority of all children receive their 
only education in the elementary schools, and much effort has 
been made to improve the work in these schools. The time 
that these children spend in the grades is too valuable to be lost; 
they have neither high school nor university beyond; they will 
never have any help from private teachers or from travel, and 
they will learn little from their environment; they have in most 
cases only uneducative and uninteresting work before them, and 
if they do not get from the school an interest in reading or con- 
tinued self-development, their educational loss is likely to have 
its further effect in a deterioration of character. 

The effect of non-attendance can only be ascertained by 
carefully compiled statistics of absences. But in Chicago as in 
other cities, published school reports do not contain such statis- 
tics. "Average daily attendance" throws no light on this 
problem. What is needed is a table or series of tables showing 
the number of children who have been absent different periods 
of time varying from one day or one week to longer periods of 
time. Since tables of this sort are not now available, it seemed 
important to undertake a careful study of the attendance 
records of a few schools in the hope that statistics of non- 
attendance in a small number of selected schools might throw 
light on the whole problem of school attendance in Chicago. 

In order to be able to formulate, if possible, some definite 
statement regarding the problem of non-attendance as distin- 



94 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

guished from the more specialized problem of truancy, records 
of nine elementary schools in Chicago were analyzed. These 
schools were selected from different sections of the city and as 
far as possible from among different foreign colonies, because 
it was recognized that the problem of non-attendance might be 
greater in some groups than in others. All the districts selected, 
however, were in the crowded sections of the city, where the 
question of school attendance is of the utmost importance since 
absence from school represents loss of time which will never be 
made up in ways that are possible to children from more fortu- 
nate homes. In the well-to-do sections of the city, the question 
of attendance, while it may be a school problem, is not a social 
problem of importance as it is in the poor and congested neigh- 
borhoods. 

The elementary schools selected for this study of records 
were the following: (i) the Jackson School, in the Nineteenth 
Ward on the West Side, predominantly Italian but with a con- 
siderable number of Russian- Jewish children; (2) the Skinner 
School, near a rooming-house district in the Eighteenth Ward 
on the West Side, in which there are many American children; 
(3) the Tennyson School, which is also on the West Side but 
in a more prosperous neighborhood, in which the children are 
chiefly Irish and American; (4) the Kosciuszko School, in the 
northwestern part of the city in a congested Polish territory; 
(5) the Holden School, on the South Side, in a neighborhood 
chiefly Lithuanian and Polish; (6) the Thomas School, on the 
North Side, which is predominantly German but which has 
many Polish children; (7) the Moseley School, in the so-called 
''black belt" on the South Side, with few children that are 
not colored; (8) the Keith School, which is also in a colored 
neighborhood but which also has a good many Irish, American, 
and German children; (9) the Jones School, in a downtown 
district which is largely Italian but in which a large variety 
of nationalities are represented. 



EXTENT OF TRUANCY IN CHICAGO 95 

Statistics of absences must, of course, be studied together 
with the total period of enrolment, since, obviously, a child 
who has been in a school for ten months has ten times as many 
opportunities for absence as the child who has been there only 
one month. It was necessary, therefore, to ascertain from the 
attendance books the number of months that each child had 
been on the books of the school, before attempting to collect 
data relating to absences. Table II shows for the nine selected 
schools the total number of children enrolled during the year 
and the number of months during which the different children 
were counted members of the school. 

This table shows that the total enrolment of these schools 
for the entire year was 10,120, and that the period of enrolment 
was accurately ascertained for 9,757 children. Of these, 4,863, 
or approximately 50 per cent, were in attendance during the ten 
months of the school session. The remaining half of the 
children were members of these schools for periods of varying 
length, from less than one month to nearly ten months. During 
the weeks or months when they were not counted enrolled mem- 
bers of these schools, these children may have escaped school 
entirely or they may have attended some other school. The 
latter alternative unquestionably applied to the great majority 
of the children who were enrolled less than ten months, and the 
following chapter, which deals with the transfer system, shows 
that during a single year many children attend several different 
schools, so that the period of enrolment in each is necessarily 
short. The next step, of course, was to ascertain the regularity 
of attendance during the period of enrolment. But since it 
was not possible to obtain the attendance records for the entire 
year for the children who were enrolled for a short period, and 
since their records for a portion of the year would not be fairly 
comparable with the ten-month attendance records of other 
children, it was thought best to present the detailed statistics 
of absence, not for the entire 10,120 enrolled children, but only 



96 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



TABLE II 

Number of Children Enrolled in Nine Selected Schools with 
Period of Enrolment* 





Boys 


Girls 


TOTAL 




Number 


Percentage 


Ten months (entire school year) 
Nine months and less than ten . 
Eight months and less than nine 
Seven months and less than 
eight 


2,524 
245 
225 

215 

236 

307 
199 

254 
286 
289 
401 


2,339 
238 
205 

165 
190 
269 
158 
198 
225 
270 
319 


4,863 
483 
430 

380 
426 
576 
357 
452 
511 
559 
720 


50 
5 
4 

4 


Six months and less than seven 
Five months and less than six . . 
Four months and less than five 
Three months and less than four 
Two months and less than three 
One month and less than two . . 
Less than one month 


4 
6 
4 
5 
5 
6 
7 






Total 

Period of enrolment uncer- 
tain 


5,181 
189 


4,576 
174 


9,757 
363 


100 






Total enrolment. . . ... 


5,370 


4,750 


10,120 









*A statement regarding the method of compiling data from the school records may be 
useful. In each school all attendance books for the year studied were collected from the 
different rooms and deposited in the principal's office during the process of compilation. 
The attendance record for the entire year was transcribed for each child who had been enrolled 
for any period whatever. It was found, however, to be a difficult task to get correct results 
because of the inaccuracy of some of the teachers' records. Different teachers keep their 
attendance books with varying degrees of accuracy, and some of them are so carelessly kept 
that it is a most tedious and laborious process to get accurate data from them. For example , 
on the third consecutive day on which a child is absent, the teacher is supposed to mark him 
left, designated by a capital "L," and to record his return with a capital "R." In some 
cases the child is never marked returned, although recorded absences at a later date show that 
he is again in school. In such a case, it is of course impossible to tell how long the child was 
absent unless the teacher can remember the date of his return, which is quite unlikely. In 
some books the writing was so slovenly that it was difficult to distinguish the capital "L" 
from the "T" for tardy. A small " 1" is supposed to indicate that the child has been trans- 
ferred to another room in the school; after the "1" the number of the room should follow. 
In certain cases the number was omitted, and no one of the other books gave a further record 
of the child; it was probable that the teacher used a small "1" when she should have used 
a capital "L." The teacher should mark absences for each school session, so that if a child 
is absent the whole day there should be two marks on that date. Frequently in the midst 
of a long absence, evidently due to illness, there will be a day with only one mark. Or if 
the system of marking "L" on the third day of absence is followed, such a record as the 
following will be found: October i, two absences; October 2, one absence; October 3, left — 
obviously a failure to record an absence on the second. This statement, therefore, explains 
why it was necessary to include in the table 363 children whose "period of enrolment was 
uncertain." 



EXTENT OF TRUANCY IN CHICAGO 



97 



for the 4,863 children who were on the books of these nine schools 
for the entire school year. 

In Table III the number of boys and girls who attended 
school for ten months are classified according to the number of 
half-days absent during the year. It is to be regretted that 
it was not possible to show how far the absences were con- 
secutive and how far irregular, since a long consecutive absence 
is likely to mean an excusable illness, but the difficulties in the 
way of the presentation of such further details regarding these 
absences were insuperable. 

TABLE III 

Attendance Record of Half-Days' Absence of 2,524 Boys and 2,339 
Girls Enrolled for Ten Months in Nine Selected Schools 



Half-Days Absent 



Boys 



Number 



Per- 

centag 



Girls 



Number 



Per- 
centage 



Total 



Number 



Per- 
centage 



None. 
I and 
5 and 
10 and 
20 and 
30 and 
40 and 
50 and 
60 and 
70 and 
80 half- 



less than 5 
less than 10 
less than 20 
less than 30 
less than 40 
less than 50 
less than 60 
less than 70 
less than 80 
days or more 



Total. 



90 
226 
281 
518 
424 

327 
210 
121 
91 
71 
165 



2,524 



4 

9 

II 

20 

17 

13 

8 

5 

4 

3 

6 



91 

177 

243 
467 

413 
266 
199 
151 
71 
67 
194 



10 
20 



403 
524 
98s 
837 
593 
409 
272 
162 
138 
359 



2,339 



4 

8 

II 

20 

17 
12 

9 
6 
3 
3 
7 



In studying this table it should not be forgotten that the 
4,863 children whose attendance records are presented here 
were the most regular in attendance of all the 10,120 children 
enrolled in these nine schools. There is every reason to believe 
that attendance records for the remaining 5,257 children who 
are not enrolled for ten months would show a greater number 



98 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

of absences since the cases of failure to enrol or changes in 
enrolment are very frequently due to the same causes as 
irregularity of attendance after enrolment. 

Table III shows that the percentage of absences made by 
boys and girls corresponds so closely that it is not necessary to 
discuss them separately. The column of totals shows that 90 
boys and 91 girls, 4 per cent of those children who were on the 
school roll for ten months, did not lose a single half-day of 
school during the entire year. 



TABLE IV 



Cumulative Numbers and Percentages Showing Absences in the 
Equivalent of Weeks 





Number of Boys and Girls Who Were Absent the 
Equivalent of 


Number 


8 
Weeks 

or 
More 


Weeks 

or 
More 


6 

Weeks 

or 
More 


Weeks 

or 
More 


Weeks 

or 
More 


We^eks 

or 
More 


Weeks 

or 
More 


Week 

or 
More 


Less 
than 

Week 


Number 

Percentage 


359 
7 


497 
10 


659 
13 


931 
19 


1,340 
28 


1,933 
40 


2,770 
57 


3,7S5 
77 


1,108 
23 



Table IV has been prepared from the column of totals in 
Table III because the cumulative numbers and percentages 
give a convenient summary of the number of absences. In this 
table it appears that 77 per cent, or more than three-fourths of 
the children who were enrolled for ten months, were absent ten 
half-days, the equivalent of one week, or more; that more than 
half of these 4,863 children lost the equivalent of two weeks' 
schooling or more; that 40 per cent were absent the equivalent 
of three weeks or more; that 28 per cent were absent the equiva- 
lent of four weeks or more and lost at least a full month's work; 
that 7 per cent lost the equivalent of two months' schooling. 

If the other children who were enrolled for shorter periods 
of time were no more irregular than the 4,863 whose absences 



EXTENT OF TRUANCY IN CHICAGO 99 

appear in Table III, it would mean that out of the 10,120 boys 
and girls attending these nine schools, only about 375 were not 
absent at all and that over 5,700 children were absent more 
than twenty half-days, and that more than 2,700 had lost 
a month or more of schooling during the year. 

The nine schools, in which attendance records were studied, 
furnished about 4 per cent of the total enrolment of children in 
public elementary schools in Chicago. They furnished approxi- 
mately 5 per cent of the total number of children brought into 
court during the year as truants or schoolroom incorrigibles. 
It is, of course, not easy to determine how far the attendance 
records of these selected schools may be said to furnish a 
random sample of the records of all the elementary schools in 
the city and whether or not they may be used as a basis for 
estimating the extent of non-attendance in the whole city. 
While attendance in these schools in the poorer districts of the 
city is perhaps more irregular than in other parts of Chicago, 
it must not be forgotten that the great majority of children in 
most of our public schools come from similarly poor and con- 
gested neighborhoods. (It may also be recalled again that 
these percentages of absence are based on the attendance 
records of the children who were probably most regular in 
attendance throughout the year.) 

The total enrolment in public elementary schools for the 
entire school year was 257,421. If the attendance records of the 
children presented in Table IV be accepted as typical of the 
whole city, then there were in the public elementary schools in 
Chicago in round numbers 19,000 children who were absent 
eighty half-days or more, and who lost therefore the equivalent 
of two months' schooling during the year; 35,000 who lost six 
weeks or more; 49,300 who lost five weeks or more; 71,000 who 
lost a month or more; 102,400 children who were absent the 
equivalent of three weeks or more; and 146,800 children who 
lost at least a fortnight's schooling. 



lOO TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

General tables such as have been presented do not throw 
much light on the more difficult aspects of the problem of school 
attendance. One wishes to know the ages and the grades of the 
absent children, the kind of homes they come from, and above 
all the excuses given for their absence. Since information with 
regard to the last two questions could be obtained only by a 
visit to the homes of absent children, a more detailed investi- 
gation of attendance records as well as of the causes of absence 
was undertaken for two selected schools. Before considering 
these subjects, however, it seems worth while to examine an 
important factor in the non-attendance problem that is directly 
connected with the question of attendance statistics, the system 
by which children are transferred from one public school to 
another and back and forth from public to parochial schools. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE TRANSFER SYSTEM AS A FACTOR IN NON-ATTENDANCE 

Quite distinct from the question of irregular attendance 
of children enrolled on the books of the school and under the 
supervision of the school authorities is the problem of the 
children who are not enrolled at all and who have successfully- 
escaped the notice of the teacher, principal, and truant officer. 
There are at least three groups of such children: (i) the children 
of newly arrived immigrants who in some cases remain unknown 
to the school authorities for a considerable period after their 
arrival; (2) the children in famihes that have moved to Chicago 
from the country or from some other city and have found it 
more convenient, pending discovery, to keep one or more of 
the children at home than to enter them in school; (3) the chil- 
dren who take transfers from one school and then delay enrol- 
ling or fail to enrol at all in the new school. Only this last 
group will be considered in this chapter. 

The transfer problem involves irregularity of attendance 
as well as a wholesale escape from school, and statistics regard- 
ing the amount of time lost through lack of supervision of 
transferred children should be considered in connection with 
other statistics of absence. An effort was made to obtain, if 
possible, the necessary data for making a definite statement 
regarding the amount of schooling lost through a failure to 
present transfers promptly. 

No statistics on this subject could be obtained, and it was 
necessary to follow the transferred children from one school to 
another in order to compare the dates of leaving the old school 
with the date of enrolment at the new school. The names and 
addresses of the children to whom transfers had been issued 



I02 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

were obtained from the nine selected elementary schools already 
discussed. From these schools, the Skinner, Jackson, Holden, 
Kosciuszko, Thomas, Tennyson, Keith, Moseley, and Jones, 
representing as has been shown an enrolment of 10,120, or 4 per 
cent of the public elementary school population, and an aver- 
age daily attendance of 7,397,^ the names and the addresses 
of 770 children to whom transfer slips had been issued were 
secured. Of these 770, 652 or 85 per cent were apparently 
transferred to other public schools, and 118 or 15 per cent to 
various parochial schools. These 770 slips represent only a 
small proportion of the total number of transfers issued, since 
the record books, as has been indicated, were in many cases 
carelessly kept. Moreover, many of the children who were 
given transfers could not be traced, since several of the schools 
kept no record either of the new school or of the new address to 
which the child was going and merely marked the child "trans- 
ferred."^ This seemed to be particularly true of transfers from 

^ Fifty-seventh Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago, 
p. 163. 

^ Of the 770 transfers followed, 563 were issued in one school year, and 
207 in the succeeding year. The records of some of the schools cover the 
whole period of a year and a half, but in other schools the records of trans- 
fers were so poorly kept for part of the time as not to be usable. A more 
detailed statement regarding the method of obtaining information regarding 
transfers may be of interest. In the first place it was found to be very 
difficult to obtain the names of transferred children from the school records. 
The method of issuing transfers is not uniform in different schools, and there 
is also wide variation in the method of keeping records. In three out of 
the nine schools duplicate transfer slips were written, one for the child and 
one to be kept in the school office, and in two of these schools it was possible 
to obtain from the attendance books or registers additional information 
which made it possible to follow up the children with greater success. For 
the six other schools no transfer duplicates were kept. In one of these 
schools the card catalogue register was used to ascertain the names and the 
addresses of transferred pupils and in the five remaining schools, no infor- 
mation was available except such as could be found in the registers or attend- 
ance books. These, it has already been said, are kept with varying degrees 



THE TRANSFER SYSTEM 103 

public to parochial schools. Transfers of this sort have been 
of frequent occurrence in recent years in Chicago, and if the 
children who ask for transfers because they are going to 
parochial schools are not followed up, there is an opportunity 
for a considerable amount of absence from school between the 
two enrohnents. 

After the transfer slips had been obtained, each slip was 
taken to the new school named, and the record of the child's 
entrance was examined to ascertain the date of re-enrolment. 
It was possible, however, to trace only 574 of the 770 children 
who had "taken transfers," leaving 196 children for whom no 
information was secured. 

It is not probable that all these 196 "lost" children failed 
to re-enter school; indeed some may have entered promptly the 
school to which they were transferred; but if so, there was no 

of care and accuracy. In one such school all the records were so clear and 
so apparently accurate that it seemed possible that all transfers were 
regularly recorded with the name of the school to which the child was to be 
transferred. Several other schools recorded children as "transferred," 
sometimes with, sometimes without, the name of the new school; sometimes 
with a "P.S." to signify parochial school, but making no mention of which 
one. The school from which the most complete set of duplicate slips was 
obtained gave clues mainly to public schools. It was said that "children 
go constantly back and forth" between this school and near-by parochial 
schools, but out of 138 transfers issued only six were to parochial schools, 
which seems a small number to represent this "constantly going back 
and forth" for a period of nearly a year (from January to December). 
Apparently no special records were kept of transfers or changes to parochial 
schools, and most of the children going to them were marked with a large 
L for left, or were simply dropped with a small 1 after three days' absence 
without any formality of transfer. 

It should be recalled that the authoritative records are not the attend- 
ance books and the register, but the teacher's "diary," described as "an 
undigested mass of details divided by room and day," so that, as an investi- 
gator said, "the only way to learn what you want to know, i.e., the date of 
entering or leaving and the grade, is to know the grade and the day on which 
the child came or went." With this information the entry might be found. 



I04 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

record of the fact, nor could the child be found by searching 
every classroom. The principals differed greatly in their will- 
ingness to assist in this search. Some inquired in every room, 
while others would do nothing more than examine the record 
and try to recall the child's name. In one school to which 
seventeen children had been transferred only three of them 
could be found. In a number of cases where the children 
were traced, they were found in a different school from that to 
which the transfer had been issued. In some cases, the child 
had, however, entered the school that was nearest to the new 
address to which the family had moved. In these cases, of 
course, the principal had issued a transfer to the wrong school. 

There seemed to be a great slackness in the dating of the 
transfer records. In a considerable number of cases the dates 
given fell on Saturday or Sunday, and in some cases the child 
was recorded as continuing to attend for periods of from one to 
twenty days after the date given as the date of transfer. 

Similar slackness was of course found in entering the facts 
concerning the child's entrance at the new school. That is, 
a system which is careless about children who go will be equally 
careless about the children who come. The date recorded as 
the date of entrance was often the first of the month or the first 
of the week, sometimes Sunday. Sometimes the recorded date 
of entering one school antedated the date of leaving the other 
school. This might be explained by the child's attempting to 
make the transfer without complying with the formalities. In 
51 cases (31 among the 481 children traced to public schools, and 
20 among the 93 traced to parochial schools) the record of date 
of entrance was so obviously inaccurate that no estimate of the 
time lost by the transfer could be made. 

The significance of these facts is of course far greater than 
appears on the surface. No business concern would tolerate 
a system of bookkeeping that left important facts to be hunted 
out of a mass of unclassified material, and that made it impos- 



THE TRANSFER SYSTEM 105 

sible to tell where certain of its raw material, its money or its 
output, had been during a considerable time, and that left from 
a quarter to two-thirds quite unaccounted for. Nor would 
a business concern, working with delicate or valuable material, 
employing many highly paid skilled workers and especially 
trained foremen, do without stenographers or bookkeepers, 
relying instead on the reports of the individual workers and an 
occasional gathering together and classifying of the facts of 
these reports. The community will surely come to realize that 
it is as important for it to know what becomes of its children 
as for manufacturers to know about their raw materials in 
process of manufacture. 

The transfer system is complicated by the fact that children 
may go not only from one school to another, but from one school 
system to an entirely different one. The issuing of transfers 
between public and parochial schools, which are under quite 
distinct management, creates a serious problem. Many children 
are said to leave the public for the parochial school without 
obtaining transfers. Principals said that they gave transfers 
to parochial schools and got none from them. On the other 
hand, sisters superior complained that while they gave transfers 
to public schools the public schools either failed or refused to 
recognize them in the same way. And there seems to be ground 
for complaint on both sides. In tracing children who took 
transfers from public schools, it appeared that the children who 
went from the public to the parochial school lost a larger number 
of school days than those who went from one public school 
to another. That is, it seemed in general to be true that an 
unduly large proportion of long absences occurred in trans- 
fers from public to parochial schools, the children feeling no 
doubt greater security from detection in passing from one 
school authority to another. 

It is not intended to suggest that no attention is given 
the subject of transfers by the Department of Compulsory 



io6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Education. The published reports of the department have 
given each year since the school year 1906-7 the number of 
cases of transferred children investigated by the department, 
and there has been a very considerable increase in the number 
of such investigations since our inquiry was begun. The reports 
of the department show, for example, the number of "transfer 
cards" investigated as follows: 942 in the school year 1906-7; 
343 in 1907-8; 362 in 1908-9; 243 in 1909-10; 478 in 1910-11; 
735 in 1911-12; 613 in 191 2-13; and 1,325 in 1913-14. Unfor- 
tunately the reports of the Board of Education have never 
published the total number of transfers issued, so the propor- 
tionate number investigated cannot be determined. 

In spite of the difficulties encountered in tracing transfer 
slips and in spite of imperfections of the school records, it 
seemed possible to ascertain the time lost by 485 transferred 
children between leaving the old school and entering the new 
school. In Table V is given the number of days lost between 
the recorded date of transfer from one school and the date of 
admittance to the other. Where the date of entrance was the 
same as the date of transfer or the school day next following, 
the child was counted as having made the transfer without 
losing any school days. In some cases where the child was 
traced the records were obviously inaccurate and were there- 
fore discarded. 

From this table it appears, as it should, that the largest 
single groups presented their transfers promptly and entered 
the second school without loss of time. Out of the 485, how- 
ever, whose records were obtained, 250 lost one or more 
days, 135 lost more than three days while 91 lost more than a 
week, 62 lost more than two weeks, 45 more than three weeks, 
35 lost four whole weeks or more. There were, of course, 
some extreme cases, for the children in the last group lost from 
six to thirty-two weeks of school. It must not be overlooked 
that these numbers represent the recorded losses by transfers 



THE TRANSFER SYSTEM 



107 



from nine schools, representing about 4 per cent of the city's 
enrolment. This table does not include the lost children who 
could not be traced at all, nor those whose records were too 
inaccurate to be used. 

TABLE V 

Number of School Days Lost by Children Given Transfers from 
Nine Public Schools 





A. Numbers AND 
Percentages 


School Days Lost 


B. Cumulative 
Numbers and 
Percentages 


School Days Lost 


Children 
Transferred 


Children 
Transferred 




Number 


Per- 
centage 


Number 


Per- 
centage 


None 

I to 3 days 


235 
IIS 
44 
29 
17 
10 
12 
23 


48 
24 

9 
6 
3 

2 
3 
5 


More than 5 weeks . . 
More than 4 weeks . . 
More than 3 weeks . . 
More than 2 weeks . . 
More than i week. . . 
More than 3 days . . . 

I day or more 

No time 


23 
35 
45 
62 

91 

135 
250 

235 


5 
7 


4. to =; days 


9 


6 to 10 days 

II to 15 days 

16 to 20 days 

21 to 25 days 

More than 25 days. . . 


13 
19 
28 

52 

4S 


Total 


Total 


48s* 


100 


485* 


100 









*Out of the total of 770 transfers, 285 are not included in this table because the child's 
record could not be accurately traced. 

The ages of the children transferred showed that the children 
of compulsory school age were more prompt in reporting when 
they changed schools than the children under seven. For ex- 
ample, an examination of the slips showed that only 52 per 
cent of those of compulsory school age lost time while trans- 
ferring, while 69 per cent of the younger ones failed to make 
immediate connections. Parents know that the little children 
are not compelled to attend; and slight considerations of family 
inconvenience are enough to keep the young children at home. 
The disturbance of moving and settling even very simple 



io8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

household goods in a new place would often be more than a 
sufficient excuse. 

No system of recording, however careful, would reveal the 
real significance of this loss to the children; for, as has been said, 
there is no limit placed on the number of transfers that can be 
made in a school year. Change in school does not of course 
always mean change in the neighborhood. The possibility of 
leaving the public for the parochial school and again returning 
or passing on to another is always present. Only by referring 
to the actual experience of the children can the waste in the 
child's life and in the use of educational resources be understood. 
From the following histories some idea can be obtained of the 
inaccuracy of the records and the wandering on the part of 
individual children:' 

Frank D was recorded as leaving the A School Jan- 
uary 3 on transfer to the C School. The records in the 

C School put his entrance as April 6, apparently after sixty- 
four days of school were missed. He stayed six days; his family 

moved again and, on April 17, left to return to the A School. 

He seems to have arrived there May 2, missing eleven days. 

Charles F was transferred from the B to the 

K School, September 4, the first day of school. There is, how- 
ever, no record of his entering there until the beginning of the follow- 
ing school year. The question arises whether he entered without 
being recorded — "slipped in" — , whether he went to some other 
school and not the one to which the transfer was made out, or 
whether he was out of school all the year. The second is probably 
the case, or possibly the first, but we lack the means of proof. 

Arthur Z left the P for the S School, Jan- 
uary 16; there is no record of his entrance in the S until the 

following September. 

An interesting case was that of Mary L , aged twelve, 

whom a nurse brought into the office of the R School, saying 

' In these transfer histories, as in other illustrative cases, letters and 
names are used which conceal the identity of schools and children. 



THE TRANSFER SYSTEM 109 

that the girl had been loafing and staying at home, and so she herself 
decided to bring her in. When Mary's attendance record was 
looked up, it was found that on September 5 she was living on Jack- 
son Boulevard and had started in at the R School in the third 

grade. On November 4 she took a transfer to the T School 

because she was moving to Ogden Avenue. She did not present this 
transfer, and while living there did not, according to her own story, 
attend any school. In January her mother moved again, and Mary 

re-entered the R School, January 15. Her address this time 

was Monroe Street. On February 7 she left the R School and 

took another vacation, because her mother had moved again, this 
time to Morgan Street. This vacation lasted until Mary was found 

at home by the nurse and brought back into the R School in 

March. 

Austin C was transferred from the A to the B 

School, December 21. There is no record there of his entry, but he 
claims that he was in attendance there and the principal says that 
he may have slipped in. In the fall of the following year he was once 
more back in the A School. 

William R was recorded in the attendance books of the 

I School as transferred to the J School, September 27. 

He was not recorded in the J School. His sister in the I 

School was seen and said that he went to the J without a trans- 
fer on March 11, and not September 27, as in the attendance books. 
If this were the case, and, since records in the attendance books were 
sometimes all the material available, especially when not of the cur- 
rent year, it might be that some other children in a similar way were 
counted as absent for a more or less considerable period when they 
had not left school. 

William A came from the I School and entered the 

S School in September. He was there until March 21, when 

he entered a third school, the K School, where he stayed 

from March 22 to May 11. He then went back to the S 

School where he was registered from June i to the end of the school 
year. 

Ethel B left the S School on transfer to St. , 

a parochial school, on December 5. There was no record of her 



no TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

enrolment there. She returned to the S — School February 28. 

It was learned that the child was often kept at home by her mother 
to help, and that the case had been referred to the truant officer. 

George Y , eleven years old, is recorded as in the X 

School from the opening of school in September to March 14, when 

he went to the S School, where according to the records he 

remained from March 15 to March 22. But he was also on the 

records of the X School from March 27 to April 14, when he 

is marked as leaving to go to the S School. On May 22, he 

left the S School without a transfer, and no record was found 

of his attending either school until September of the following year, 

when he was again entered at the X School. If the S 

School, as is probable, omitted to record an actual change between 

March 15 and March 22, which is down on the books of the X 

School, we find his attendance record as follows: twenty-six weeks 

from September to March 14, in the X School; change to the 

S School, with no time lost; nine days at the most here; 

returned to the X School, where he stayed not more than 

fourteen days; a change again to the S School; stayed twenty- 
one days here at most and then left and either was out of school the 
remainmg twenty-four days or changed his program and went to a 

third school; back in the fall at the X School, where he started 

the previous year. 

Joseph Z was in the I School September 10 to 

October 17, when he left on transfer to the J — ■ School. There 

is no record of his entering there until September of the following 
year. On September 15, he left the J School without a trans- 
fer, and the principal did not know where he was. 

Agnes M left the B School for the A School 

in March, but failed to enter the latter school. The investigator 

heard that she had gone to the E district and had not entered 

any school, although she would not be fourteen until November. 
At the time of the inquiry she was at work. She was fourteen then 
but was thought to have begun working illegally while she was 
under age. 

Henry W left the H School for the A School 

March 15. At the A School he is recorded as having entered 



THE TRANSFER SYSTEM iii 

from the M School the previous October, but there is no record 

of his arrival from the H School, from which he was trans- 
ferred. The M School has no obtainable record of him. 

William X is recorded as entering the A School 

September 8, but there is no record showing from what school he 

came. The H School records him as leaving there March 15, 

and the M School records him as entering May 15 and leaving 

June 10, but does not say for what school. 

Irene Z left the L School October 19, entered the 

K School November 7, and left the K School January 

10. There is no record of where she was going. Stanley Z , 

her brother, entered the K School October 18, and left 

according to the records on December 28, although that date falls 
in the Christmas vacation. He entered a parochial school, the 
St. , on January 19. 

These cases are cited as interesting ones for purposes of 
illustration. Of many children about whom inquiry was made 
the principal would supplement the records by saying, "He 
entered on such a day and stayed only a little while," or, "He was 
here only three weeks." In spite of much persistent effort some 
children were not traced at all and others had such doubtful or 
conflicting records as to be of small value except to show the con- 
fusion that occurs. For example, a child might be found regis- 
tered in three schools simultaneously and changing his attendance 
from one to another to escape the truant officer, or a child might 
be marked absent on the records of one school while he was in fact 
attending another. These illustrations serve to show not only 
the time lost but something of the waste in frequent transfers, 
with the inevitable changes in teachers and methods. These 
cases show, too, how imperfectly the records are kept in many 
schools both as to children arriving and children leaving, since 
it is impossible in some cases to trace the complete history of a 
child through one school year in the various schools to which he 
goes; and they show further how easily under the present trans- 
fer system a child may slip wholly out of sight. 



112 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Studies made of the records of 9 schools, led our investi- 
gators to 90 other schools, giving a view of the records of 99 
of the elementary schools of Chicago. There is no reason to 
suppose that the conditions in the schools that were not visited 
differed essentially from those prevailing in the schools in which 
the records were examined, except for the fact that transfers are 
probably more numerous in the poorer sections of the city 
where the parents move more frequently. 

Transfers should probably be made out in triplicate instead 
of in duplicate, one slip for the child, one for the principal's file, 
and one to be mailed to the central ofl&ces of the Board of Edu- 
cation. A transfer clerk in the central offices could then mail 
a reply card to the principal of the new school and if the child 
had failed to make a report at the new school, investigation 
could be begun at once. If the ideal of the compulsory edu- 
cation law is that a child is to attend 100 per cent of the school 
sessions and that every day is too valuable to be lost, then 
some system should be worked out which will eliminate every 
possibility of an avoidable absence. There is no intention here 
of insisting on any particular method of transfer-making or 
record-keeping; it is the purpose of this chapter rather to insist 
that some system be devised and enforced with thoroughness 
and zeal. 

Just what the significance of these long absences may be is 
difficult to estimate. Attention has already been called to the 
fact that for these children their school life is their only chance 
for education, for quickening their interest, for preparing them 
for life in a modern industrial and social democracy. If they 
have all that the law contemplates for them — seven or nine 
years of regular school-life — they are still young and untrained 
persons, poorly equipped to assume the burdens that await 
them. When they miss even a few days of school, the loss is 
real; when the loss amounts to weeks, it becomes serious and 
means not only loss of time and of opportunity which can never 



THE TRANSFER SYSTEM 113 

be made good to the child, but irregularity, uncertainty, and 
impaired efficiency in the schoolroom which the child is allowed 
to enter and to leave in this casual manner. 

Surely a system can be worked out which shall see every 
child from the old to the new school without loss of time. No 
transfer should be issued until the teacher knows the child's 
new address and the new school can be correctly designated 
in the transfer slip. If the new address cannot be learned from 
the child, an inquiry might be made by the truant officer at the 
home before the child has lost any schooling, rather than after 
absences have occurred. 



CHAPTER VIII 

A DETAILED STUDY OF THE EXTENT OF NON-ATTENDANCE 
IN TWO SELECTED SCHOOLS 

Statistics relating to non-attendance are of little value 
unless accompanied by an inquiry into the causes of absence. In 
such an inquiry non-attendance should be investigated at the 
source; that is, by a careful inquiry made in the home in order to 
determine how far the causes may be removable and the result- 
ing absences preventable. 

Since it was impossible to make a detailed investigation of 
non-attendance in all the nine schools in which the attendance 
records were analyzed, two schools were selected for more 
intensive study, one on the West Side, predominantly Italian, 
but with Jewish children, and one on the Northwest Side, pre- 
dominantly Polish. In each of these two schools after the 
study of attendance records had been completed, an attempt 
was made to visit the home of every child who was absent during 
a period of three weeks. The investigation was made in the 
West Side school in December and in the Northwest Side school 
in February, two winter months when the percentage of non- 
attendance runs high.^ Table VI, which follows, shows the 
total enrolment in the two schools during these three weeks 
and the total number of children of different ages who were 
absent during this time. 

I The schools will be referred to as the "West Side" and "North Side" 
schools. The investigation in the first school was carried on for the three 
weeks preceding the Christmas holidays (fifteen school days) . The investi- 
gation in the second school was carried on during three weeks in February. 
During these three weeks, however, there were two school holidays, Febru- 
ary 12 and February 22, so that the investigation actually included only 
thirteen school days. 

114 



A DETAILED STUDY OF NON-ATTENDANCE 115 

TABLE VI 

Total Enrolment and Number of Children in Different Age 

Grotjps "Absent" and "Not Absent" from Two Selected 

Elementary Schools During Three Weeks' Inquiry 





Under Seven 


Seven to 
Fourteen 


Fourteen and 
Over 


Total 


Absent: 

Number 

Percentage 

Not absent: 

Number 

Percentage 


239 
52 

217 

48 


44 

1,417 
S6 


112 
50 

112 

SO 


1,446 
45 

1,746 
55 


Total 


456 


2,512 


224 


3,192 



This table shows that out of 3,192 children enrolled in these 
two schools 1,446, or 45 per cent, were absent at least one half- 
day during the three weeks, period of investigation.^ Looking 
at the division into age groups, it appears that the children of 
compulsory school age were less irregular in attendance than 
the children below and above the compulsory age limits; thus 
only 44 per cent of the children between seven and fourteen 
years of age were absent in contrast with 52 per cent of the 
children under seven and 50 per cent of the children fourteen 
years of age and over. 

Although an attempt was made to have all the absent 
children visited by the investigators, it was unfortunately not 
possible in either school to devise a system by which this could 
be accomplished. Home schedules were finally obtained for 
only 1,158 out of the 1,446 children shown by the teachers' 
attendance books to have been absent one or more times during 
the period of the investigation. This failure to visit the home 

' The percentages of absence for girls and boys were almost precisely 
the same, and it did not seem worth while therefore to present the data for 
boys and girls separately. 



ii6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

of each child who was absent was due in part to the fact that 
the investigators were not able to secure the names and the 
addresses of all the absent children/ but in some cases in which 
the name and the address were obtained, the investigator in 
spite of repeated visits failed to find any member of the family 
at home; in other cases the death or illness of someone in the 
household made a visit unwise. For example, the prevalence 
of diphtheria in one neighborhood made it impossible to visit 
a number of children there. 

The tables that have already been given merely show the 
number of children absent, but not the number of times 
individual children were absent. The following tables show 
the extent of non-attendance among the 1,158 children whose 
absences were investigated by visits to their homes. These 
tables, however, cover a longer period than the three weeks 
of home visiting; for the school records were available show- 
ing the number of days' absence since the beginning of 
the session, and the schedule used provided for the child's 
school attendance from the beginning of the school year 
down to the last day of the investigation. The table for the 
West Side school therefore covers four months, from the first 
Tuesday in September until the Christmas holidays. The 
table for the North Side school covers a period of six months, 
from the first Tuesday in September to the last week in Feb- 
ruary. 

Since the investigation of these schools was made during 
different months, December and February, the number of 

' An attempt was made to have the different teachers send to the prin- 
cipal's office the names of the children who were absent each session. But 
although the great majority of teachers faithfully co-operated by sending 
in their lists regularly, a few teachers in each school were either careless or 
indifferent at times and failed to send in their reports. The investigators 
in the office assumed that no children were absent in the rooms from which 
no lists were sent, but it developed later that this was not always the 
case. 



A DETAILED STUDY OF NON-ATTENDANCE 117 

absences would, of course, be greater in the second school. 
The table that gives the number of half-days the children were 
absent is followed by a series of cumulative numbers and per- 
centages that makes it possible to discuss the tables more con- 
veniently. In the West Side school, during sixteen weeks, 
6 per cent of the 816 absent children whose homes were visited 
were absent forty half-days or more; that is, they lost the 
equivalent of four weeks or more than four weeks of school, 
which was one-fourth of the time school had been in session; 
12 per cent of the children were absent thirty half-days or more, 
that is, they lost three weeks or more; and 56 per cent lost 
at least two weeks. In the North Side school, where the 
records covered twenty-four weeks, 6 per cent of the 342 
children visited lost sixty half-days or more, which in this 
school was likewise equivalent to one-fourth of the time 
school had been in session; 11 per cent lost the equivalent 
of five weeks' schooling; 18 per cent lost the equivalent of 
one month; 29 per cent of the children lost the equivalent 
of three weeks' schooling; and 50 per cent lost two weeks 
or more. 

The question of whether or not girls are more irregular in 
attendance than boys is an interesting one. It has already 
been pointed out that in both schools the percentage of girls 
who were absent during the period of investigation was approxi- 
mately the same as the percentage of boys who were absent 
during the same period, but Table VII shows that the girls were 
absent a larger number of half-days than were the boys. That 
is, in the West Side school 21 per cent of the girls and only 16 
per cent of the boys were absent twenty-five or more half-days; 
33 per cent of the girls and 26 per cent of the boys were absent 
twenty half-days or more; in the North Side school 24 per cent 
of the girls and only 14 per cent of the boys were absent forty 
half -days or more; 34 per cent of the girls and only 25 per cent 
of the boys were absent thirty half-days and more. The reason 



ii8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

for this greater degree of absence among the girls will be dis- 
cussed in the chapter dealing with the causes of absence. 

TABLE VII 

Number of Boys and Girls Absent Specified Number of Half-Days 



Number of Half-Days Absent 



West Side School 
(Period of Sixteen Weeks) 



Boys 



Girls 



Both 



North Side School 
(Period of Twenty-four 

Weeks) 



Boys 



Girls 



Both 



I and less than 5 
5 and less than 10 
10 and less than 15 
15 an,d less than 20 
20 and less than 25 
25 and less than 30 
30 and less than 40 
40 and less than 50 
50 and less than 60 
60 and over 

Total 



105 
82 
46 
76 
40 
21 
24 
II 

5 
6 



76 
95 
50 
47 
48 

35 
22 

9 

10 



i«i 
177 
96 
123 
88 
56 
46 
20 
15 
14 



19 
36 
32 
25 
24 
22 

23 
13 

5 



7 
21 

15 
16 
16 
II 

14 

12 

10 

9 



26 
57 
47 
41 
40 

33 
37 
25 
IS 



416 



400 



816 



131 



342 



TABLE VII A 

Cumulative Percentages 



Number of Half-Days Absent 



West Side School 
(Period of Sixteen Weeks) 



Boys 



Girls 



Both 



North Side School 

(Period of Twenty-four 

Weeks) 



Boys 



Girls 



Both 



60 or more . 
50 or more . 
40 or more . 
30 or more . 
25 or more . 
20 or more . 
15 or more. 
10 or more . 
5 or more . 
Less than 5 



I 
3 
5 
II 
16 
26 
44 
55 
75 
25 



2 
5 
7 
12 
21 
33 
45 
57 
81 

19 



2 

4 
6 
12 
18 
29 
44 
56 
78 
22 



6 

8 

14 

25 

36 
47 
59 
74 
91 
9 



7 
15 
24 
34 
43 
55 
67 
79 
95 

5 



6 
II 
18 
29 
38 
50 
62 
76 
92 



A DETAILED STUDY OF NON-ATTENDANCE 119 

It is, of course, important to know whether, when a child 
was absent several half-days, the absences were consecutive 
or irregular.' The long absence of several consecutive half- 
days is usually due to illness, whereas the irregular absences — 
the occasional half-day or day of non-attendance — are much 
more likely to be unnecessary, founded on some trivial excuse. 

' Since, in general, irregularity is determined by the number of diEferent 
periods the child is absent, it was decided to call those absences that occurred 
at three or more different times "irregular," and those that occurred at 
only one or two different periods "consecutive." This gave a definite 
basis of classification, but it was not entirely free from objections. The 
absences of some children were called consecutive merely because they were 
absent less than three times; some were called irregular that may have been 
a series of consecutive absences, that is, some of the children who were 
absent at three different periods may have been absent on each occasion 
for a number of consecutive days, but, although any one absence would 
have been properly called "consecutive," the series of absences falls cor- 
rectly into the "irregular" class. In general, it is believed that the method 
of classification adopted tends to imderestimate the factor of irregidarity, 
The following table presents the results of a classification on this basis. 

IRREGULARITY OF ABSENCES OF CHILDREN IN 
TWO SELECTED SCHOOLS 



Absences 


West Side School 
(Period of i6 Weeks) 


North Side School 
(Period of 24 Weeks) 




Number 


Percentage 


Number 


Percentage 


Consecutive . . 
Irregvilar 


212 
604 


26 

74 


27 
31S 


8 
92 


Total 


816 


100 


342 


100 



This table shows that, even with a very liberal standard of what may 
be called consecutive absences, a very small proportion belong in this 
group. In one school 74 per cent of the children and in the other 92 per 
cent of the children were absent at irregular intervals. Irregularity accord- 
ing to the method of classification adopted would increase with the period 
for which the statistics were gathered and is naturally greater in the school 
from which records were obtained for six months than in the school from 
which only four months' records were obtained. 



I20 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

It is, however, difficult to classify the absences of a large num- 
ber of children on this basis because the same child may belong 
in both the irregular and consecutive groups; that is, he may 
be absent for two weeks on account of illness and he may be 
absent one half-day each week for trivial reasons during the 
rest of the term. In general, however, it seemed to be true 
that the absences of most of the children were not the consecu- 
tive absences due to illness, but the irregular absences which 
indicate casual and unnecessary non-attendance. 

A few other general questions relating to these non-attending 
or absent children should be answered before the causes of non- 
attendance are discussed. No study of truancy, non-attendance 
and the causes of absences can be of value without a clear under- 
standing of family and neighborhood conditions. The first of 
the two schools studied is located in the heart of the West Side 
of Chicago in a ward that contained 91 people per acre at a time 
when the average population in the city as a whole was 20 
people per acre; the second was in an almost equally crowded 
neighborhood with 82 people per acre. This overcrowding is, 
however, to be found in all the river wards, the wards of the 
lower West Side, lower North Side, and the Southwest Side in 
which the majority of the children of Chicago live.^ 

' See an article, "The Housing Problem in Chicago," No. IV, by 
E. Abbott and S. P. Breckinridge, in the American Journal of Sociology, 
XVII, 2 fif., for the following data regarding the overcrowding in different 
Chicago wards. The federal census population statistics for 1910 "showed 
that in the city as a whole the average population per acre was 19.7. 
The Ninth and Tenth wards, which include the 'Ghetto' and the poor 
district about the lumber yards and canals, have a density of 70 and 80 , 8 
per acre; the Nineteenth Ward, the crowded immigrant section in which 
Hull-House is situated, has 90.7 per acre; the Seventeenth Ward, a 
similarly poor and crowded tenement-house district, has a density of 97.4; 
and the Sixteenth Ward, a Polish neighborhood, has a population averaging 
81.5 per acre. It appears that the six most densely populated wards which 
have more than 70 people per acre are all on the West Side. Altogether 
in eighteen wards in different parts of the city the average number of people 
was forty or more per acre." 



A DETAILED STUDY OF NON-ATTENDANCE 121 

The two school neighborhoods studied were both immigrant 
neighborhoods, the one predominantly Italian and the other 
Polish. A very considerable number of children visited had 
themselves been born abroad, and the parents belonged ahnost 
entirely to the immigrant group. In Table VIII the place of 
birth of the head of the family is given — that of the father, if 
aHve, and of the mother, if the father was dead. 

TABLE VIII 

Nativity of Parents of Non-Attending Children 
A. West Side School 



Place of Birth 


Number 


Percentage 


Italy 


510 
144 
27 
27 
48 
SI 


63 
18 


Russia 


Germany 

Ireland 

Other foreign countries . . . 
United States 


3 
3 
6 

7 




Total* 


807 


100 



B. North Side School 



Place of Birth 


Number 


Percentage 


Poland 

Germany 

Austria-Hungary 

Russia 


189 
45 
25 
25 
5 
21 


61 

14 

8 

8 


Other foreign countries. . . 
United States 


2 
7 




Total* 


310 


100 



*Nine cases on the West side and thirty-two on the North 
Side are omitted from the total because the place of birth of the 
parents was not given. 

The table shows that both in the West Side and in the 
North Side school only 7 per cent of the parents of the 



122 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

non-attending children were born in this country. The West 
Side school neighborhood is a homogeneous one with 63 per 
cent of the parents born in Italy; in the North Side district 
61 per cent of the parents were Polish, and a very consider- 
able number came from Russia and from the Slavic provinces 
of Austria. 

In the second of these neighborhoods so large a proportion 
were Polish that it seemed best to designate Poland as if it were 
still a political unit. The term Poland in the table, therefore, 
covers all those who were born in Russian Poland, German 
Poland or Austrian Poland. 

From whatever country they come, the parents of these 
children do not immediately become Americanized. They con- 
tinue to be Italian or Polish. The language of the home is 
Italian or Polish,^ and it is not English but these other languages 
that one hears spoken in the shops and on the streets of the sur- 
rounding neighborhoods. 

Living in a foreign colony, working with gangs of men of 
their own nationality, finding it easy to depend on the children 
as interpreters in emergencies, the parents find it extremely 
di£&cult to learn English and believe it to be quite unnecessary. 
Thus in the great majority of cases English is not spoken in 

■ The following table shows that English was the language spoken in 
less than one-fourth of the homes of the children whose absences were 
investigated. 

Among the foreign languages were, of course, Polish, Italian, Yiddish, 
Bohemian, Slovak, and German. 



Language of Home 

Foreign 

English 

Both foreign and English . . . 

Total* 



Number 



767 
255 
79 



Percentage 



70 

23 

7 



*In 57 cases the language of the home was not given. 



A DETAILED STUDY OF NON-ATTENDANCE 123 

the home because the parents, especially the mothers, have 
never learned to speak it with ease, if at all/ 

The importance of this factor in the compulsory education 
situation cannot be overestimated. Coming from the most 
impoverished countries of Europe, where free education is 
unknown, the parents do not easily understand that school 
attendance is not only free but compulsory and that "compul- 
sory attendance" means "regular attendance." It is easy for 
these parents to make sacrifices for the children to go to school, 
but not easy to grasp all at once the American standard of 
education, which means regular attendance for at least seven 
years, no matter how soon the elementary arts of reading and 
writing may be acquired. 

In an attempt to understand the social background from 
which these non-attending children come, two other questions 
of importance arise; the first is the question of poverty in the 
home, and the second the question of how far non-attendance 
is caused by the fact that the mothers of these children 
are widows obliged to support their children by working away 
from home. In order to formulate some definite statement 
regarding the economic status of these families, they have been 
classified into four economic groups, which may be described 
as very poor, poor, comfortable, and very comfortable. No 

' The following table shows the number and percentage of parents who 
were able to speak English. 



Ability to Speak 


Father 


Mother 


English 


Number 


Percentage 


Number 


Percentage 


Able to speak Eng- 
lish 

Not able 


592 

334 


64 
36 


472 
587 


45 
53 






Total* 


926 


100 


i,0S9 


100 



*In the case of 232 fathers and gg mothers there was no 
report as to ability to speak English. 



124 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

families that could be called wealthy were found among the 
absent children in either of these neighborhoods. 

The investigators who visited the homes could not in a 
single visit obtain sufficiently accurate information regarding 
the earnings of the father or of others in the family to justify 
any attempt to classify these families on the basis of income. 
The dividing lines, then, between the economic groups were 
not determined by family earnings but by the standard of 
living, that is, by facts indicating the kind of house and the 
number of rooms in which the family lived, the condition of the 
home as to furnishings and cleanliness, the kind of work done 
by the father, and particularly by the fact of whether or not the 
mother had been obliged to become a supplementary wage- 
earner. That is, the information in the investigator's schedule 
did make it possible to say whether or not the family were living 
under conditions of poverty. We are concerned therefore in 
this classification merely with the home circumstances, and 
a family living in wretched conditions in a miserable home was 
called "poor" or "very poor" even if the wife said that her 
husband was at work at fairly good wages. The wages may 
have been saved or dissipated but, in either case, the condition 
of the home was for the time not profiting by the higher income.^ 

In general, the families called "very poor" were not nor- 
mally self-sustaining families, and many of them were supported 
in part by some charitable organization. The families deserted 
by the father and those in which the father was dead or was an 
invalid were in this class. In other cases the family was "very 
poor" because the father was shiftless or drunken and kept the 
family impoverished through his neglect. On the other hand, 

' In an earlier study of the delinquent wards of the Juvenile Court, 
when we were confronted by a similar problem of classification, a similar 
method was used. This is discussed in more detail in the chapter, "The 
Poor Child: The Problem of Poverty," in The Delinquent Child and the 
Home, by S. P. Breckinridge and E. Abbott. 



A DETAILED STUDY OF NON-ATTENDANCE 125 

the families called "poor" were normally self-sustaining; but 
the father, although able to keep up the home without charity 
and without making the wife and mother go outside of the 
home to become a wage-earner, did so with great difficulty. 
The men in the families classified as poor were for the most part 
unskilled laborers handicapped by their inability to speak 
EngHsh and subject to the largest hazards of unemployment. 
These families live under great pressure, and to keep the 
children suppHed with proper shoes and clothing for school 
necessitates a constant struggle. The families classified as 
"comfortable" are those of artisans, tailors, or small shop- 
keepers who live in cheerful little homes and who are well 
above any fear of want. In the neighborhood of the West 
Side school there were in addition a few families who, while not 
at all wealthy, were considerably above the general standard 
of living in the neighborhood. These were liquor-dealers, 
proprietors of good stores in the neighborhood and, in a few 
cases, manufacturers. In general, their neighbors spoke of 
them as "fine" or "rich," and it seemed worth while to place 
them in a separate class, which might best be described as "very 
comfortable." One of these families, for example, kept a 
servant. Table IX shows the results of an attempted classi- 

TABLE IX 

Economic Status of Families of Non-Attending 
Children 



Economic Group 


Number 


Percentage 


Very poor 

Poor 

Comfortable 

Very comfortable 


^53 

724 

241 

II 


14 
64 
21 

I 


Total* 


1,129 


100 



_ *In the case of 2g families the information was not sufficient 
to justify their classification into economic groups. 



126 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

fication on the basis of economic status as indicated by the 
conditions of the home. 

This table shows that 78 per cent of the famihes visited 
were poor or very poor; that 21 per cent were in fairly com- 
fortable circumstances, while a very few families (i per cent) 
could be called very comfortable. 

Passing on to the question of how many of these children 
belonged to widowed or deserted mothers, Table X shows that 
the great majority of children belong to normal family groups. 

TABLE X 

Parental Status of Non-Attending Children 



Children Having— 


Number 


Percentage 


Both parents living 

Father only 


1,044 

41 
68 

5 


90 
4 


Mother only 


6 


Neither parent 


* 


Total 


1,158 


100 







♦Percentage less than i per cent 

This table indicates that 4 per cent of these children are 
motherless, 6 per cent come from fatherless families, and 90 
per cent come from famihes in which both parents are living. 

It is hardly necessary to point out that regular attendance 
at school is difficult for the children who are fatherless or 
motherless. In the poor home, the widowed mother who has 
to become a wage-earner is often obliged to leave her children 
to get dressed and to prepare their own breakfast and to be 
themselves responsible for getting to school on time. For the 
children who are actually motherless, there is the same difficulty. 
If one pictures the miserable cold rooms, the difficulties of dress- 
ing in confusion and disorder, the lack of care and supervision, 
it is not strange that many of these children are irregular at 
school. In this connection it should not be overlooked that 



A DETAILED STUDY OF NON-ATTENDANCE 127 

in these neighborhoods large famihes are the rule, and, to the 
inconveniences which may be due to poverty must be added 
the difficulties due to the pressure of a large number of children 
in the small, uncomfortable rooms. By way of summary, then, 
it may be said that there is a great deal of irregular or "casual" 
school attendance in these poor and crowded neighborhoods. 
In the next chapter an attempt will be made to present the 
immediate causes of non-attendance. The evil of irregular 
attendance can be cured only after it is understood; and it can 
be understood only by studying it at the source, that is, in the 
homes which are so largely responsible for it. 



CHAPTER IX 

NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 

A study of the causes of absence shows that truancy and 
non-attendance are closely related to the neighborhood condi- 
tions which have already been described. In these immigrant 
neighborhoods where there are crowded conditions of living, 
where the families are very poor, and it is a perpetual struggle to 
give the children enough to eat and to wear, there is inevitably 
a great waste of the children's schooling that does not occur in 
more prosperous sections of the city. Sickness occurs among 
the children that could be avoided if better care were possible; 
sickness of others in the home, and other family exigencies due 
to poverty impose a heavy burden of care upon the children, 
which is met by sacrificing school attendance. Table XI shows 
the reasons given in the home either by the mother or the 
guardian of the child for the non-attendance of the 1,158 absent 
boys and girls visited by the investigators. 

The various excuses given have been grouped under three 
heads: (i) absences caused by sickness and family emergencies, 
which explain the majority of the absences of the whole number 
of non-attending children; (2) absences which could be avoided 
by a little better care and a little more trouble on the part of 
the mother — keeping the children at home to run errands, to 
help with the housework, and in general to meet the convenience 
of the mother; (3) absences due to truancy, that is, cases in 
which the mother had sent the child to school and did not know 
that he had gone elsewhere. 

The great majority of the children absent on account of 
sickness seemed to have only very trivial indispositions, and 
a very small number of children were found in bed. In a con- 

128 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 



129 



siderable number of cases where the mother said that the child 
was sick, the investigator felt that the absence was due rather 
to carelessness or indifiference; for example, the child had over- 
slept in the morning or the mother had not got the necessary 
clean clothes ready. 

TABLE XI 

Reasons Given for the Non-Attendance of 1,158 Boys and Girls 
Whose School Absences Were Investigated 





Boys 


Girls 


Both 


Reasons Given for Absence 


Number 


Percent- 
age 


Number 


Percent- 
age 


Number 


Percent- 
age 


Sickness and family emergen- 
cies: 
Sickness of child 


280 
34 
17 
13 

56 
46 

31 
13 
II 

23 
4 
6 

29 

44 


46 
6 
3 
2 

9 

8 

S 
2 

2 

4 

* 

I 
5 

7 


268 

47 

16 

8 

75 
34 
II 
10 

I 

21 
2 

5 
16 

8 


51 
9 
3 
2 

14 
7 
2 

2 

* 

4 

* 

I 
3 

2 


548 
81 

33 
21 

131 

80 
42 

23 
12 

44 

6 

II 

45 

52 


48 
7 
3 

2 


Sickness of others 

Birth, death, wedding, etc. . 

Church attendance 

Other excuses: 

Work at home 


Lack of shoes or clothes .... 
Errands and interpreting . . . 
Having company or visiting 
Working or looking for work 
"Tardy and so stayed at 

home" 

Excused by teachers 

Inclement weather 

Various trivial excuses 

Truancy: 

Mother thought child at 

school 


7 
4 

2 
I 

4 

* 

I 
4 

5 


Totalt 


607 


100 


522 


100 


1,129 


100 



*Less than i per cent. 

fin 29 cases, 20 boys and g girls, no reason was given for the absence. 



In many cases the child was ill because his physical needs 
had not been properly looked after, because the mother was 
overworked or ignorant or perhaps very poor, and the child 
had therefore not been taken to a dentist or had his tonsils 



I30 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

looked after or been given some other necessary preventive 
treatment. Sometimes the child's undernourished condition or 
lack of warm clothing and of shoes that would keep the feet dry 
had made him susceptible to colds and other illnesses. The fact 
that approximately one-fifth of all the children enrolled should 
within three weeks be absent because of sickness shows an 
urgent need for school nurses and thorough medical inspection. 
It may be noted too that the visits made by a school nurse 
who is also a social worker not only protect the child from 
unnecessary absences due to preventive illnesses, but such 
visits often afford an excellent opportunity for general family 
service, instruction in better methods of housekeeping, better 
care of all the children, as well as help in the process of Ameri- 
canizing many homes. 

One little boy whose absence was investigated had been out 
of school sixty-two half-days during the twenty-four school 
weeks. He was found at home sick, lying on the floor by the 
stove. His mother was away working, and there was no one 
to look after this child or the three smaller children who were 
at home. Another case needing the care of a school nurse was 
that of a little girl whose mother was keeping her at home 
because she could not pay $25 to have her tonsils out. Her 
doctor had said that it would cost that much, and no one 
had told her of a free dispensary which was not difficult to 
reach. Another little girl was kept at home to look after the 
children while her mother took the ten-year-old brother, who 
had been excluded from school, to the doctor for treatment. 

With the children who are sick, must be classed the children 
who are excluded because of a disease that is contagious, 
although it may not incapacitate them. Such are the children 
with scabies and ringworm, the deadly trachoma, or "blight," 
and the less serious cases of unclean heads. These diseases 
are generally due to filth and neglect, and the children afflicted 
with them usually come from homes of the lowest grade. 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 131 

Unless treatment is vigorously pushed, the ignorant or indiffer- 
ent mother acquiesces only too readily in the exclusion of the 
children from school and makes little or no effort to get them 
in condition to return. One eleven-year-old Polish boy who 
was visited by an investigator in February had been excluded 
because of scabies the first week in September. He re-entered 
school in January, but was found to be still suffering from the 
disease. He had been told by the nurse that he must go regu- 
larly to the dispensary, but his mother had made no effort 
to have him go. As a result he had lost a whole term at school 
and had every prospect of losing another. In this case the boy 
belonged to a very low-grade family living in the rear of a 
saloon. His mother was a drinking woman, and the boy's 
sister had been in the Juvenile Court as a delinquent. The 
school record showed that the twelve-year-old boy in the 
family had also lost a great deal of time at school — forty-eight 
half-days during the twelve weeks since he had been transferred 
from a parochial school — but the mother strongly maintained 
that he was still in the parochial school and that the public 
school "had nothing to do with him." 

The Visiting Nurses Association, the Department of Com- 
pulsory Education, the United Charities, and the Juvenile 
Court had all worked with this family without success. The 
United Charities had finally asked to have the children removed 
from the home, but the Juvenile Court had refused to grant the 
petition. 

Inquiries made at the United Charities offices revealed the 
fact that it was not difl&cult to find other similar cases of children 
wholly excluded from school. One district office of the Chari- 
ties reported, for example, the following interesting case. In 
a family in which the father was suffering from tuberculosis 
there were five children; the eldest, a little girl ten years old, 
had tubercular glands and trachoma; a little girl of seven had 
tubercular glands; a younger child in the family had trouble 



132 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

with his eyes; and the two other children were also tubercular 
The family was originally reported to the Charities by a com- 
petent school nurse because the father was ill, but the report 
was made in January, a month when relief societies are very 
busy, and, although the office visitor gave attention to the man, 
got him to a tuberculosis sanitarium, and gave assistance to the 
family in his absence, it was not until the following summer 
that the physical condition of the other members of the family 
was looked into. At that time when the woman asked that the 
children be given a country holiday, a physical examination 
was necessary, and it was then learned for the first time that 

Mrs. S and some of the children had trachoma and 

could not therefore be sent to the country. According to the 
case record, however, it was not until the following November 
that an effort was made to secure treatment for any of the 
children. 

In January of the next year a nurse again reported the 
family to the district office and called attention to the fact that 
the children in the family had trachoma. It was not until 
March, however, when all the children seemed to be infected 
with this terrible disease that the society made any persistent 
efforts to see that the children had proper treatment. Even 
then it was June, fully a year and a half after the first report, 
before the children were taken to the Eye and Ear Hospital 
and Dispensary. At that time the doctor at the hospital 
thought that the little girls should be isolated, but the 
mother refused to allow them to be placed in the hospital, and 
there ensued a long struggle for proper care and treatment. 
The officers of the Health Department, the Juvenile Court, and 
the Municipal Court were evidently appealed to in the hope 
that the mother could be coerced into permitting the necessary 
care and medical treatment for the children. As a result 
finally of semi-weekly visits by a visiting nurse, the district 
office was notified in the following February that the mother 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 133 

was ready to take up the matter of getting a certificate that 
would entitle the children to go to school. This, however, 
was never followed up. On March 4, a United Charities visitor 
who went to the home reported, "Children not in school yet." 
On March 12, when the visitor was there again, she found that 
the children were still out of school. On May 10 the visitor 
reported that the children again had very sore eyes, that the 
mother was out, and that Mamie, the eldest child, was taking 
care of the house and the children. On June 10 the record 
shows that the nurse was once more coming twice a week to 
dress the children's eyes. At this time the family was turned 
over to the Pension Department of the Juvenile Court, and on 
October 8 it was reported that the children's eyes were much 
better and that the two little girls were in school. A report 
from the school on December 4 of the same year was as follows: 
"Teachers of both girls say that they are frequently absent. 
They were both out of school a whole day recently to say good- 
bye to relatives leaving for Italy. They are both very slow 
in their work and large for their grades. Mamie (now twelve 
years old) is in the third grade. Both children are well be- 
haved." They had both lost two years and a half of schooling. 
Family emergencies of all sorts, too, fall heavily upon the 
children in these poor homes, and many of them are absent 
a considerable number of days every year because of the illness 
of some other member of the family. Cases of chronic illness 
are the most serious, and a child is sometimes made to lose an 
entire year's schooling because there is no one else to care for 
a sick mother or father during a long illness. For example, 
two little Polish boys, Stanley, aged twelve, and Matthew, 
aged ten, were being kept at home alternately to care for a 
mother who was ill with tuberculosis. The family had never 
had either a doctor or a nurse, although the father was a skilled 
workman earning good wages and two older sisters were both 
working. The home was terribly neglected, and the little boys 



134 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

were delicate and anemic. In this case it would probably 
have been wise for one of the sisters to give up working and 
take care of the mother and the home. It was surely no kind- 
ness to the family to allow them to deprive the two little boys 
of education and health and at the same time to allow the home 
to be shockingly neglected. 

A little Polish girl, ten years old and in the second grade, 
who had been absent fifty-six half-days within six months, was 
found at home in a rear basement apartment of two rooms, 
taking care of her mother, who was lying on a mattress in the 
kitchen. The mother explained that the visiting nurse and 
the county doctor both came to see her and a policeman had 
brought a basket. It was learned that the family had been 
deserted by the father, and the mother was usually able to 
support herself and the child by washing; but when she was ill 
she was compelled to keep the child at home to care for her. 
The child had already been out of school five weeks. The 
attention of the United Charities was called to this home in the 
hope that the mother could be persuaded to go to a hospital 
until she was entirely well again, and that the child might be 
properly provided for until the mother's return. 

In a much larger number of cases, however, the children 
were kept at home to relieve a sudden pressure caused by an 
unexpected illness. One boy was kept to watch fires for a sick 
father while his mother "got a day's work"; another had stayed 
at home because his sister's baby was in convulsions and his 
mother had not been able to get him ready to go to school; 
John was staying at home because his mother had gone to see 
a doctor and wanted him to look after the children, who did 
not like to go to the day nursery; Bruno, aged twelve, was 
found at home helping his mother wash, but he explained that 
he had really stayed out to go "to tell the boss" that his father 
was sick; Genevieve, aged twelve, who had been absent four- 
teen half-days and tardy twice during the month when the 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 135 

investigator called, was found alternately tending the shop and 
taking care of three younger children and of a sick mother, 
although her father was well able to hire someone to come in 
to help care for the family while the little girl was at school. 

A few children, 3 per cent of the whole number, were absent 
because of a death in the family, or, in a small number of espe- 
cially pathetic cases, because of the birth of a new baby, at 
which the little girl was obliged to officiate as midwife and nurse. 
In one family Helen, aged eleven, was not only taking care of 
her sick mother and of the new baby who had arrived the night 
before, but of six other children younger than herself. The 
mother explained that the child had had no sleep the night 
before and was not fit to go to school in any case. The father, 
who was at home, was a chronic invalid, and the mother begged 
to be allowed to keep the child at home for a week or two because 
she needed her ''to go to the Charities" and to do errands. 
Later when she was told that a visiting nurse would help with 
the baby and that "the Charities" had promised to send some- 
one to help while the little girl was away, she was glad to have 
the child go back to school. In another family, a little girl, not 
quite eight years old, was being kept at home to help her 
mother in a similar emergency. And in still another case, Mary 
reported that she was taking care of the children while her 
mother was helping a neighbor woman who was "getting a 
baby"; had the mother made an efifort, another neighbor could 
undoubtedly have been found who would have helped with the 
children and prevented the interruption of Mary's schooling. 

No one wishes to judge these poor people for yielding to the 
hard pressure of circumstances, but it is clearly wrong that in 
such cases the heaviest costs should be paid by the child, when 
a resourceful visitor could suggest better ways of tiding over 
the emergency than depriving the child of his only chance of 
education and frequently at the same time overtaxing his 
physical strength. Many of the parents are newly arrived 



136 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

immigrants, helpless in other ways, as well as poor, and it is no 
kindness to them to acquiesce in a hand-to-mouth plan which 
means sacrificing the child's future, when it is possible to devise 
better methods of meeting the immediate need by calling in a 
visiting nurse or by soliciting the friendly assistance of a kindly 
neighbor. 

Because of the many hardships of life encountered by these 
poor families, one is tempted to excuse the cases of absence due 
to wedding festivities. A wedding is, in these neighborhoods, 
a great family festival in which children are expected to share. 
Nevertheless, it seemed hard that one more reason for irregular 
attendance should be added to those already existing. The 
absence of a little girl who was taking care of the baby while her 
mother was getting the older sister ready to be married, and 
absence of a little boy who had not been able to get up in time 
to go to school because he had been "helping at a wedding" 
until four o'clock in the morning were examples of children 
whose schooling suffered as a result of the family festivity. 

No study of the causes of non-attendance in the immigrant 
sections of the city can fail to emphasize the fact that poverty 
is only too frequently the real excuse for non-attendance. In 
many cases where the father is a decent, industrious workman 
in regular work, but with a large family and small wages, it is 
impossible in the winter to "get ahead." The week's earnings 
barely provide for the week's regular expenses of rent, fuel, and 
food, and there is never any leeway, never, for example, any 
ready savings for the next pair of shoes. It is astonishing how 
important the shoe problem is as a factor in non-attendance. 
Too often, if shoes go to pieces during the week, new ones 
cannot be bought before the next pay day and the child must 
stay at home until then. And the new shoes are not bought 
until the old ones are literally in pieces. Roman, aged thirteen, 
and only in the fourth grade, was found at home wearing old 
arctics of his father. His mother explained that his father and 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 137 

the older boys had just ''got jobs" and would get their first 
"pays" next week, when Roman would have shoes and be 
returned to school; In the case of another little boy found 
patiently sitting shoeless by the fire, it was explained that 
"Father gets paid this evening and will buy shoes for Stanley 
on the way home." . Edward, who was also found at home, had 
worn his old shoes until they had made blisters on his feet, 
and today they had no money, and so he had to wait until 
tomorrow, when his father would "get him shoes out of his pay 
and send him back to school." Thomas was not at home 
because he had stayed out of school to get his shoes mended, 
and his mother explained that as he sold papers after school and 
in the evening, there was no other time for the mending to be 
done. In another family Mary was at home because she had 
torn her shoe the night before, and since she had no other her 
mother had to take it out to be mended before she could go 
out again. 

In addition to the families that are really independent and 
able to provide shoes at least on pay day, there are many 
cases in which the family cannot provide shoes at all because 
there is no pay day in sight, and help must be asked of public 
or private charity before the child can return to school. John, 
who was nearly twelve years old and in the second grade and 
who had been absent forty half-days irregularly in six months, 
was found at home in a room that contained no furniture except 
a cracked stove and two old chairs; the boy explained that his 
mother was out washing and that his father sometimes "worked 
on boats," that the county agent was coming to see whether 
they needed help or not and he had to be home to explain or 
interpret, for he was the only English-speaking member of the 
family; moreover his shoes were all gone so that he could not 
go back to school anyway. He showed a touching confidence 
that he would get shoes from the county agent the first thing 
the next morning, and would come late to school. 



138 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Another eleven-year-old boy, from the first grade, who was 
found at home, complained that he needed shoes and clothes 
and that he also had to "carry pants" and run errands while 
his mother sewed. The father was dead, and the family of six 
were living in a small three-room basement apartment; the 
mother was a home finisher, "sewing pants" in a dark room 
lighted by a small kerosene lamp. In the same room was a little 
girl of nine, barefooted, who had been out of school over three 
months and who not only had no shoes or stockings but who 
had only a thin summer dress. The woman said that she would 
like to have the children in school but that she could not earn 
enough to buy clothes or shoes. Later, however, when proper 
clothing had been furnished, she did not send them to school, 
but insisted that Michael had to "carry" from the tailor's. 
She was so absorbed in getting enough money to pay the rent 
and to buy food that school seemed unimportant in contrast. 

This family had never been helped by a private charitable 
organization but had had county outdoor relief. The visitor 
from the county agent's ofiice seemed, however, to have made 
no effort to improve the deplorable conditions in the home or to 
get the children to school. Two other cases illustrated the 
same indifference toward the children's school attendance on 
the part of the public relief agency. Joseph, nearly thirteen 
and in the fifth grade, was found at home, waiting for coal to 
be delivered. His mother showed a county coal ticket and 
explained that the county coal was always left on the sidewalk, 
and unless she kept Joseph at home to carry it in, it would be 
all gone. In another household, Frank, aged ten and in the 
third grade, who had been absent for two days, was found at 
home scrubbing the floor. His mother anxiously explained 
that the county agent had promised to send coal and Frank 
would have to stay at home until it came because there 
was no one else to carry it up. She had had a hemorrhage 
recently in a tailor shop and was afraid to lift anything heavy. 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 139 

It may, of course, be suggested that the ''widow's pension" 
law^ should prevent such hardships, but the fact must not be 
overlooked that what is really needed is some machinery for 
putting such families in touch with agencies that are available. 
That is, what seems to be most needed is a mobilization of the so- 
cial resources which are waiting to serve in just such cases of need. 

There are a few famiUes in which the pressure in the home is 
so great that the mother finds herself unable to resist the temp- 
tation to keep the children at home quite regularly for a day or 
a half-day's help. But in the majority of such cases, the work 
could be rearranged so that the child's schooling need not be 
sacrificed. To help these poor people to make a hard life a little 
easier by depriving their children of the few educational oppor- 
tunities open to them is merely prolonging their misery; for 
if the child loses his schooling, conditions in the home will not 
be improved when he, in his turn, becomes an incompetent 
man. In one home, where the man was out of work and was 
reported to be unwilling to work, the mother went out to wash 
and kept three little girls alternately out of school to "keep the 
home." In this case, the woman was defiant and said that 
she had a right to keep her children home while she was earning 
something for them to eat and to wear. In another home 
Mary, aged eleven and a half and only in the second grade, 
was being kept at home regularly one day a week. The father 
worked nights, and the mother said that she "had to have" 
Mary at home when she washed so that the baby could be 
kept quiet and the father given a chance to sleep. Her washing 
was very small and could have been done after school or even 
on Saturday without serious inconvenience, but so long as she 
was allowed to do so, she preferred the easier way of keeping 
Mary out of school. A Httle thirteen-year-old girl in another 
family had been kept at home every Tuesday or Wednesday, 

'Technically called in Illinois the "Funds to Parents" law, enacted 
June, 1911. 



140 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

sometimes both days, since she had been in the school. The 
mother insisted that she could not pay anyone to help wash 
although the father and three older children all had steady 
work. 

It is not always the little girl who is kept at home to help. 
Charles, who lacked one month of being fourteen and who was 
only in the third grade, had been absent twenty-nine of the 
forty school days since he left the parochial and entered the 
public school. The mother said that she was not able to do 
heavy work and "needed a child home, off and on." The 
father and the two older children were working, and the home 
was comfortable and well furnished, with rugs and a piano; but 
the mother insisted that they had no money to spare and counted 
off the days on the calendar until the boy would be fourteen 
and could be put to work. Surely it is the duty of the state to 
protect boys like Charles, and not to let them be deprived of 
what is really their American birthright because the parents 
are too ignorant to appreciate its value. 

A little German boy who had been very irregular in attend- 
ance was found selling papers on the street. His mother was 
surprised to learn that he "must always go to school when 
there was school," as she expressed it. She said that she always 
sent him to school in the mornings, but that he sometimes got 
papers to sell in the afternoon, an arrangement which she 
thought indicated an altogether admirable thrift. 

In another home a little twelve-year-old girl was found at 
home scrubbing the floor and crying; she said at first that her 
mother kept her from school because she had no dress to wear. 
When she was told that the dress she had on was quite good 
enough, it was discovered that she was really at home to take 
care of a little brother while her mother went on an errand. 
Another little girl had been absent thirty-four separate half- 
days in six months, and the constant excuse was that she had to 
go to her aunt's to help her take care of the children. 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 141 

In a few cases the mother complained that she had no time 
to get the children clean enough to go to school. One woman, 
the mother of eight children, said that Mike had no clean 
blouse, and added forcibly, and no doubt with much truth, that 
when she had to go out and wash for other people she had no 
time to wash for her own children. Joseph, who had been 
absent forty-nine half-days in six months, said that he had no 
clean clothes, a statement of obvious fact. His mother was 
away at a neighbor's, but he said she would wash his sweater 
some time during the day and clean him up so that he could go 
to school the next day. A little girl in the same neighborhood, 
who was absent, had a similar excuse. Her dress had to be 
washed, she said, and she had only one. The possibility of 
washing a dress at night does not occur to these mothers so long 
as they have the more convenient alternative of keeping the 
child at home the next day. If the compulsory education law 
were rigidly enforced, however, other ways would be devised 
of meeting the numerous emergencies that under present condi- 
tions seem to necessitate keeping the child out of school. 

Many of the excuses now given are extremely trivial. One 
boy, aged thirteen, whose father kept a clothing store, was 
allowed to stay at home to see new windows put up in front of 
their shop; another boy was found hauling a clock across the 
street and explained that he had to help a neighbor move; 
another was staying at home to "help move" an aunt; still 
another was packing the few family belongings that they might 
be ready to move later when his mother came home; another 
boy who was found at home said that he was staying out to help 
care for a sick horse. More serious were the number of absences 
caused by the mother's morbid curiosity, which led her to go to 
the services for some young Polish men who had been hanged for 
murder. Several children were found at home that day taking 
care of the smaller children while the mother went to the 
funerals. 



142 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

A number of absences were due wholly to carelessness. 
Chester was found at home scrubbing the floor, and explained 
that he had overslept; Sam, who was found studying in his 
father's store, was very much ashamed to be caught and 
explained that he had fallen asleep at his sister's the night 
before and did not get back in the morning in time for school; 
Frank claimed that he was staying home to take care of the 
three small children while his mother worked in the saloon, 
but the mother said that he did not need to look after the 
children, and that he was out of school because he had slept 
too late. One mother said that she hated to have Nathan, 
aged thirteen, get up so early when he stayed up so late, but 
seemed not to have thought of the alternative of getting him 
to bed earlier. One woman, thoroughly defiant, would give 
no excuse except to say, "When he has to stay home, he has to." 

In one very prosperous family in which there were four 
children at work, a little thirteen-year-old boy, who was in the 
fifth grade had been kept at home on Monday and Tuesday of 
nine successive weeks to help with the washing. When the 
compulsory education law was carefully explained to the mother, 
she agreed with the investigator that she might hire someone 
to help wash. When it was suggested that they were sufficiently 
prosperous to keep the boy in school until he graduated from 
the eighth grade, she seemed greatly surprised to know that 
children were allowed to stay in school after they were four- 
teen; her other children, she said, had all left the parochial 
school when they were confirmed, and she had never understood 
that children could go to school when they were old enough to 
work. In another sufficiently well-to-do family the washer- 
woman had failed to appear, and instead of postponing the 
washing the little thirteen-year-old boy was kept at home to 
do it. 

In many cases the child is kept at home because it is con- 
venient to have an interpreter. For example, Tony, aged 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 143 

twelve, was staying at home to interpret when the plumber 
arrived; Stanley, aged thirteen, had to take his mother to court 
and to act as a witness; John explained that his father's " trial" 
was on and he had to see that his mother, who spoke no English, 
got safely to court and back again; Frank, aged thirteen, had 
to go with his aunt and interpret for her until she "got a job"; 
Peter, aged twelve, who was out helping his mother hunt 
rooms, explained the next day that she did not like to go alone 
because she could not speak English, and since the older children 
were at work he was the only one who could go with her; that 
is, it was more convenient to keep Peter at home than to hunt 
rooms in the evenings or on Saturday. 

While visiting the homes of more than 1,100 absent children, 
it was inevitable that some should be found living in such 
unwholesome and degraded homes that regular school attend- 
ance could scarcely be expected. It was discovered, for 
example, that one little boy who had been absent thirty-nine 
half-days in less than six months was being sent to pick up coal 
near the tracks, although the family were reputed to be pros- 
perous and were buying their house. In spite of their good 
income, the shiftlessness of the mother had demoralized the 
home; she seemed to be a very lazy woman who did not usually 
get up until noon; when the investigator called, the kitchen 
was full of men who were sitting about while the mother was 
still in bed in the same room. 

Another little boy in the same neighborhood had not 
entered school until the second week in October and had been 
absent fifty-seven half-days in the five months following. The 
visitor found the home, the three children, and the mother all 
in a filthy condition; the little boy claimed that he had no 
clean waist and that his earlier absences had been due to a lack 
of shoes; it was discovered, however, that he had been "bum- 
ming around the nickel shows on the avenue," and that he was 
suspected of stealing. One of the other children at home was 



144 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

a little girl, eleven years old, who was supposed to be attending 
a parochial school, but who claimed, no doubt erroneously, 
that the Sisters let her stay at home to help her mother. 

One eleven-year-old boy absent from the third grade was 
found on the street selling "extras." This boy was one of six 
children belonging to a family well known in the neighborhood 
because the father, who was constantly in and out of jail, 
abused the children and quarreled with the mother when he 
was at home. All the children had been irregular or truant at 
jchool, and the mother, who was at first very indifferent about 
them and their schooling, had become alarmed because they 
were "getting to be bums and thieves like their father," and 
had willingly given her consent to the commitment of the eldest 
boy to the Parental School. 

In another confused and miserable home, the mother, who 
drank and used vile language, seemed to be the source of 
degradation. The little boy, aged twelve, who had been 
absent forty-five half-days irregularly within six months, was 
one of eleven children, all of whom were exposed to degrading 
and contaminating influences. The children were not only 
frequently absent from school, but were reported to be unruly 
and a source of demoralization when present. 

Other similarly wretched cases were found. A ten-year- 
old girl in the first grade, who had been absent forty-seven 
half-days during six months, was visited on the occasion of three 
different absences during the three weeks that our investi- 
gators were at work in the neighborhood. One day the mother 
said that the child had overslept, on another day that she had 
gone to visit an aunt in another part of town, and on the third 
day, that the father, who was obviously drunk, had sold the 
child's shoes and that the principal would not give her another 
pair. Another little girl, nearly fourteen years old, who was 
in the third grade and who had been absent sixty-two half-days 
during six months, was found at home taking care of her mother. 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 145 

The father had deserted the family of five children after beating 
the mother so severely that she was in need of medical care. 

In a still more wretched household the whole family, includ- 
ing all the six children, were still in bed when the investigator 
called. The house was dirty and unspeakably disorderly, 
with eight boarders in addition to the family of eight in six 
rooms. Later, stolen goods were found in the house and the 
family was evicted, but a newspaper story brought in a supply 
of funds. 

In such extreme cases as these the children are really 
''dependent or neglected" within the meaning of the Juvenile 
Court law, and they are, in the language of the statute, "with- 
out proper parental care." A warning from the Department 
of Compulsory Education cannot possibly bring about the 
necessary improvement in the children's school attendance. 
All the conditions of family life need to be changed, and noth- 
ing short of thoroughgoing family rehabilitation will bring the 
home up to the level of co-operation with the school. Drunk- 
enness on the part of either parent, crime and immorality, 
cases of wife desertion, and filthy conditions of living should 
be reported to the proper corrective agencies at the earliest 
possible moment. 

We have pointed out elsewhere that the great difficulty con- 
nected with the treatment of girls who are brought into court 
as delinquent^ is the fact that the young girl's waywardness 
and the conditions of degradation so often responsible for her 
bad conduct are not discovered until too late; cases like those 
cited indicate the importance of a better enforcement of the 
compulsory school law and of requiring absolutely regular 
attendance. If the absences of the children in these cases were 
followed up at once, the evil conditions in the home could be 
referred to the proper authorities for treatment so that the 

^ The Delinquent Child and the Home, chap, vi, "The Child from the 
Degraded Home: The Problem of Degeneracy," p. 105. 



146 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

child's right to her minimum of education might be enforced and 
her statutory right to "proper parental care" be made good to her. 

It was an interesting result of these 1,100 visits that very- 
few cases of wilful truancy were discovered. Less than 2 per 
cent of the girls and only 7 per cent of the boys were out of 
school without the consent of their parents. In these cases the 
investigator reported that the mother was usually very indig- 
nant to learn that the child, who had been sent to school, had 
not arrived. One mother was surprised to find that her thirteen- 
year-old boy was not in school, and still more surprised to find 
that he had been absent, at dift"erent times during the six months, 
eight whole days and seventeen half-days. She was very anxious 
to be notified when he was absent and begged that the visitor 
would try to "scare him." 

One boy who was found at home claimed to be sick; he had 
started from home to go to school but went to a fire instead. 
His mother said that he "just took sick" after he got home. 
Another boy, Aloysius, aged eight, absent eleven half-days 
irregularly between January i and February 5, was not found 
at home, and an angry mother who had sent him to school 
threatened to "see about it," and said, "He'll be there this 
afternoon all right." In another family, John, aged twelve 
and in the fifth grade, and Leo, aged eleven and in the third 
grade, could not be found. They were two of six children whose 
father was dead and whose mother worked out by the day. 
During six months one of them had been absent twenty-two 
half-days and tardy eight times; the other was absent fifteen 
half-days and tardy twice. A sister who was at the home said 
that they often played truant and were probably "bumming," 
that their mother wanted them to go to school, but she was 
away all day working and had no way of knowing whether they 
went or not. It is, of course, in such cases as these that the 
resources of the Parental School are likely to prove entirely 
adequate. 



NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE SOURCE 147 

This chapter was entitled "Non-Attendance at the Source" 
since it is only too clear that it is the home and the parents, not 
the child and the school, that must be dealt with if the school 
attendance is to be rigidly enforced to the 100 per cent standard. 
In the vast majority of cases it was found that the children 
were absent with their parents' consent or at their parents' 
command. It is useless to talk about the waywardness of the 
child or the shortcomings of the schools or the teachers while 
this is so. In one home the investigator, supposed to be a 
truant officer, was received with enthusiasm by the absent boy 
who called out to his mother, "I told you they'd catch you if 
you kept me home!" The mother, a good-natured Italian 
woman, was much impressed by the visitor's prompt appearance, 
and marveled that Tony's absence could be so promptly dis- 
covered in a school with a thousand children. In another home 
the boy, who was washing and did not like his job, explained 
with satisfaction, "I told her there was eight new officers at 
our school and somebody would give it to her." That our 
investigation had a tonic effect on school attendance in both 
neighborhoods was generally agreed. Persistent and careful 
and prompt inquiry after each absent child, whether suspected 
of truancy or not, must, even if continued for a short time only, 
be beneficial because of its effect on parents and children alike. 
Only in this way can the causes of non-attendance be discovered. 



CHAPTER X 

THE HABITUAL TRUANT AND THE SCHOOLROOM 
INCORRIGIBLE 

Careful inquiry, then, seems to indicate that truancy, which 
may be defined as wilful absence on the part of the child without 
the knowledge and consent of the parent, is a relatively unim- 
portant factor in non-attendance. The table given in the last 
chapter shows that only 5 per cent of the 1,129 non-attending 
children who were visited were truants, that is, children whose 
mothers had sent them to school and did not know of their 
failure to attend. Moreover, the problem of wilful truancy is 
almost exclusively a boy problem. Nine-tenths of the truants 
in one school and all the truants in the second school were boys. 
The ofl&cial machinery provided by the Board of Education for 
the enforcement of the compulsory education law is devised 
to prevent non-attendance from any cause and not merely 
non-attendance caused by truancy. Although the agents of 
this department are called truant officers, they are sent to 
investigate any case of absence in which the principal suspects 
that the children either are needlessly being kept out of school 
or are wilfully staying away. The machinery as developed up 
to the present time is, however, better fitted to secure the 
return of the children than to remove the causes of their failure 
to attend. When these causes are stubborn, the law assumes 
that the child's continued non-attendance indicates a defiance 
of the law, either on the part of the parent who continues to 
keep the child at home in spite of warning notices, or on the 
part of the child who still runs away even after the truant officer 
has tried to bring him back. 

148 



THE HABITUAL TRUANT 149 

It has already been pointed out that the law provides for 
a prosecution of the defiant parent in the Municipal Court and 
the commitment of the habitually truant child to the Parental 
School through the Juvenile Court.^ The theory of the law is 
that if the child wiU not go to school with the other children in 
his neighborhood he must be sent to a special school from 
which he cannot get away. Such children usually come from 
homes in which there is a breakdown of family discipline, and 
for this reason the discipline of the Parental School is substi- 
tuted for the lack of control over the children in their own home. 
Obviously a breakdown of family discipline may manifest itself 
in relation to the school in more than one way. One child may, 
because of lack of home training, refuse to go to school at all, 
or may stay away so often as to make it impossible for him to 
benefit by the training when he is there. Another child, equally 
undisciplined and lawless, may go to school with fair regularity, 
but behave so badly that the school is of no benefit either to 
him or to the other children in the room. Such a child is said 
to be "guilty" of persistent violation of the rules of the school; 
and the law provides that those who are wilfully absent, and 
those who are wilfully disobedient, and those who seem to be in 
need of constant oversight shall alike be eligible to the Parental 
School, to which they may be committed by the Juvenile 
Court on the initiative of the Department of Compulsory 
Education. 

Although the problem of the child who is guilty of truancy 
or of bad conduct is relatively a small part of the problem of 
non-attendance, it is nevertheless absolutely a serious problem 
if the large numbers of boys brought to court on this charge are 
considered. The Parental School was opened on January 31, 
1902, and between that date and the close of the school year 

'See chap, v, p. 86. See also chap, xi, "The Parental School," and 
chap, xiv, " Enforcement of the Compulsory Education Law in the Municipal 
Court of Chicago." 



I50 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



1914-15, 4,198 boys had been brought into the Juvenile Court 
as truants and committed to the Parental School and 1,461 other 
truant children who were not committed were brought into the 
court for discipline. It was believed that a careful study of the 
records of the court and of the Parental School would lead to a 
better understanding of the problem of truancy as well as the 
related problem of non-attendance. 

Table XII shows the number of children brought into court 
each year from the year 1902, when the Parental School was 
established, down to July i, 191 5. 

TABLE XII 

Number of Children Brought into the 
Juvenile Court as Truants or School- 
room Incorrigibles, 1902-15* 



Year Ending 
June 30 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


ig02 


131 
203 

288 
279 
345 
38s 
381 
506 
579 
524 
443 
547 
496 

515 




131 

203 
288 


1903 

IQ04 






1905 

1906 

1907 

1908 




279 
345 
385 
381 








1909 

1910 




506 

579 
531 




lOII 


7 
4 

13 
3 

10 


IQI2 


447 


I9I3 

I914 

I915 


560 
499 
525 




5,622 


37 


5,659 



*The data in this table and in the other tables in this chapter were obtained by tran- 
scribing the Juvenile Court records of children brought in for truancy or violation of school 
rules. The report of the Board of Education contains each year a statement of the number 
of children brought into court on these charges and the number committed to the Parental 
School, and 'as these numbers do not correspond exactly with those in our tables, it should be 
explained that the difierences, which are slight except for a single year (igi4), are probably 
due to the difficulties attendant upon transcribing court records months or years after they 
are made. It was, however, necessary to make the transcription if other facts which are not 
published in the board's report were to be obtained. Our table shows a total of 5,134 children 
brought into court between 1901-2 and 1913-14; a similar table compiled from the pub- 
lished reports shows a total of 5,740 children — that is, our numbers are for some years slightly 
lower and for some years slightly higher than those published. Some difference may arise 



THE HABITUAL TRUANT 15 1 

This table obviously does not represent the total number of 
wilfully truant children in Chicago during these years, but only 
those extreme cases that could not be dealt with by the Depart- 
ment of Compulsory Education without the assistance of the 
Juvenile Court and the Chicago Parental School. The increase 
in the number of boys brought to court was almost steady from 
year to year until 19 10, and probably kept pace with the 
increase in the juvenile population of Chicago. This does not 
necessarily indicate that conditions were unchanged and that 
truancy was not being checked, but may be evidence of an 
improvement in the standard of school attendance required 
and in the resources for taking care of truant boys, such as the 
increase in the capacity of the Parental School and in the num- 
ber of truant oflScers. It was, of course, almost useless to bring 
boys into court as truants when the accommodations at the 
Parental School were too limited to care for them even if 
the court wished to commit them. The slight falling off in the 
number of truants in 1905 was probably due to the general 
improvement in school attendance brought about by the com- 
pulsory education law which went into operation July i, 1903. 
The more recent decline in the number committed may be due 
to the fact that some of those previously committed have been 
held for longer periods and that there are fewer vacancies at 
the school for new commitments. 

Leaving the question of numbers, we consider next, in 
Table XIII, the ages of the children brought to court on the 
charge of truancy or "violation of rules" during the period 
1902-15. The ages are given only for the whole group of 

from the fact that we have included only "new cases" in our table — that is, a child brought 
into court in 1906, 1907, and 1908 would be counted only once (for the year 1906) in our 
table. Whether the same method is used in compiling the published statistics it is not 
possible to say. For one year only, 1914, is there a serious discrepancy between the two sets 
of figures. The published report shows 826 children brought to court and 424 committed; 
our tables give 499 brought to court and 346 committed during the same year. We are 
at a loss to explain so wide a difference, but it seems probable that "continuances" and 
"recommitments" are counted with "new cases" in making up the published total for that 
year, whereas our total refers only to the number of boys, not to the number of cases in 
court. Unless the method of compiling the published statistics was changed in 1914, it is 
difficult to understand why similar differences do not appear in earlier years. 



152 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

children brought into court during this period, instead of being 
given for each year separately, because there seemed to be very 
little change from year to year in the proportion of children of 
different ages. 

TABLE XIII 

Ages of Children Brought to Court as 

Truants or Schoolroom Incorri- 

GiBLES, 1902-15 



Age 


Number 


Percentage 


7 years 


54 

164 

469 

86s 

1,183 

1,500 

1,41s 


I 


8 years 


3 
8 


Q years 


10 years 

1 1 years 

1 2 years 

i^ years 


IS 
21 

27 

25 




Total 


5,650* 


100 



*The total is 5,650 instead of 5,659 because the age 
was not reported in 9 cases. 

This table shows that the great majority — nearly three- 
fourths— of these unruly children were eleven, twelve, or thirteen 
years of age and 15 per cent were ten years old. Although only 
12 per cent of the whole number were below the age of ten, 
this is a relatively large number of such very young children; 
the fact that nearly seven hundred boys who were only seven, 
eight, or nine years old were considered so seriously truant as 
to necessitate bringing them into court is very significant. It 
indicates, as do so many other facts, the close relationship be- 
tween truancy and dependency. There is obviously something 
lacking in a home that cannot discipline a boy under ten years 
of age. 

It is of course important to know not only the number of 
children brought into court as truants, but the number of boys 
committed to the Parental School. Table XIV shows the 
number of boys committed from 1902 to 191 5. The table is 



THE HABITUAL TRUANT 



153 



given by years, because any change from year to year in the pro- 
portionate number of boys committed might indicate a change 
of policy with regard to the administration of the law. The 
children who were brought into court but not committed to the 
Parental School were usually paroled or their cases were con- 
tinued to give the officers a chance to get more information or 

TABLE XIV 

Number of Children Brought into Court and 

Number or Boys Committed to the Chicago 

Parental School, 1902-15 



Year Ending 
June 30 


Children 

Brought into 

Court 


Boys Committed 

to Chicago 
Parental School 


Percentage 
Committed 


1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 

1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

191S 


131 
203 

288 
279 
345 
38s 
381 
506 
579 
531 
447 
560 

499 

525 


02 
161 

222 
212 

245 
265 
257 

374 
473 
395 
348 
411 
346 
397 


70 
79 
77 
76 
71 
69 
68 
74 
82 
74 
78 
73 
69 
76 


Total 


5,659 


4,198 


74 



to give the child an opportunity to show improvement, or in 
order to have a new petition made out when the child could 
more properly be dealt with as a delinquent or a dependent. 
It should perhaps be explained that there have been a few girls 
among the truants brought into court, but that no girls have 
been committed, since the Parental School is exclusively for boys.^ 

' See chap, xiv, "Enforcement of the Compulsory Education Law in 
the Municipal Court of Chicago," for a further discussion of the problem 
of the truant girl. 



154 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The number of boys committed varied year by year from 
68 per cent to 82 per cent of the total number of children 
brought into court. In general, it seems to be the policy of the 
Department of Compulsory Education not to bring boys into 
court until all other methods of getting them to school have 
proved futile. The department then has a "clear case" in 
court showing the need for Parental School care. 

The Department of Compulsory Education takes pains to 
obtain if possible the consent of the parents to the child's com- 
mitment to the Parental School, before bringing the case into 
court. Although the consent of the parents is not recognized 
by the court as an essential preliminary to the child's commit- 
ment,^ the policy of the department in asking the parents' 
consent is undoubtedly wise, since in the majority of cases the 
consent is given and, as a result, the action of the court is 
rendered doubly impressive through this co-operation of the 
parents and the school authorities for the child's good. An 
examination of the records for a single year showed that in 
nearly two-thirds of the cases in which the parents' attitude 
was given, they consented to the child's being sent to the 
Parental School. 

In the beginning, the activities of the Department of Com- 
pulsory Education were confined almost exclusively to the 
pubhc schools, but in the year 1907-8, the services of the depart- 
ment were extended to all local schools,^ including not only 252 
public schools, but 142 Catholic parochial schools, 35 Lutheran 
parochial schools, and 6 other private schools which existed at 
that time. Before this date, public and parochial schools alike 
were imposed upon by parents who sought deliberately to mis- 
lead the school authorities and to evade the law by transferring 

' On the legal effect of the parents' refusal to consent to commitment, 
see chap, i, p. 9. 

^ Fifty-fourth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago 
(1907-8), p. 282. 



THE HABITUAL TRUANT 



155 



children from one school to another. Such evasions of the law 
were not so easy after the parochial schools were brought under 
the supervision of the Department of Compulsory Education. 
Table XV shows the number of children brought to court each 
year from the public and from the parochial schools. From this 
table it is seen that although even in the early years a few boys 
had been brought in from the parochial schools, the proportion 
of boys from these schools increased very substantially after 
the year 1908, when the services of the truant officers were 
extended to parochial school children. 

TABLE XV 

Table Showing the Number of Children from 
Public and from Parochial Schools Brought 
INTO Court as Truants Each Year from 1902 
TO 1915 



Year Ending 


Number of Truants From 


Totals 


June 30 


Public Schools 


Parochial Schools 


1902 

1903 

1904 

190S 

1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

191S 


126 
198 
281 
263 
334 
367 
358 
432 
469 
420 
367 
459 
384 
430 


5 

5 

7 

16 

II 

18 

23 

74 

no 

III 

80 

lOI 

115 

95 


131 
203 
288 
279 
345 
385 
381 
506 

579 
531 

447 
560 

499 

525 


Total 


4,888 


771 


5,659 



It is important to note that although all these children were 
brought into court on a charge of truancy and were all called 
truants, they were technically charged either with (i) habitual 



156 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

truancy, or (2) violation of school rules, or (3) both offenses. 
Table XVI shows the number of boys brought in on different 
charges and committed to the Parental School during the years 
from 1908 to 19 15, the years for which data were available. 
It appears that during a period of eight years 79 per cent of 
the boys brought into court by the Department of Compulsory 
Education and committed to the Chicago Parental School 
were brought in on a straight charge of truancy, 17 per cent 
were charged with disorderly conduct at school, that is, "viola- 
tion of the rules," and the remaining 4 per cent were charged 
with the double offense of truancy and violation of rules. 

TABLE XVI 

Number of Boys Charged with Habitual Truancy and "Violation 
OF Rules" Committed to the Parental School, 1908-15 



Year Ending 
June 30 


Habitual 
Truancy 


Violation 
of Rules 


Both Charges 


Total 


IQ08 


194 
308 

389 

322 
258 
321 
272 
318 


48 
S8 
48 
50 
73 
79 
66 

73 


IS 

8 

36 

23 

17 

II 

8 

6 


257 


1909 

1910 

lOII 


374 
473 
395 


1012 


348 


1913 

1914 

191S 


411 
346 
397 


Total 


2,382 


495 


124 


3,001 


Percentage . . . 


79 


17 


4 


100 



The question of the disposition of the truants and "school- 
room incorrigibles " who were brought into court is decided by 
the judge of the Juvenile Court on the same basis on which he 
determines the disposition of the cases of delinquent and depend- 
ent children. Children are not committed to institutions for 
punishment, but because no better method of dealing with them 
is at hand. The persistently truant or extremely incorrigible boy 



THE HABITUAL TRUANT 157 

who conies from a good home, and who has parents able to 
devote time and effort to getting him to school, is likely to 
be returned to his home, while another boy whose offense has 
been much less grave may be sent to the Parental School if 
home conditions are less favorable. 

It is a matter of considerable importance that so many boys 
who seemed to be in rebellion, as it were, against the school 
system provided for them by the community could be dealt 
with only by bringing them into court. An attempt was made, 
therefore, to ascertain the causes of their unwillingness to go 
to school and of their serious misbehavior while there, and, if 
possible, how far the home was responsible, or the school, or the 
community. 

In the hope of throwing some light on these questions, a 
more thorough study of all the truancy cases brought into 
court during a single year was undertaken. Such facts as could 
be obtained from the court records were transcribed for the 579 
truant boys of the year 19 10, and these facts were supple- 
mented by such other data as could be obtained from the 
Parental School records. Later the principals of the schools 
from which the boys had come and the truant officers who 
brought them into court were interviewed, and, finally, their 
homes were visited and an effort was made to discuss sym- 
pathetically with the mother of each boy his conduct before 
and after his commitment. As a result of the visits to the 
homes valuable information was obtained relating to the families 
of these boys. Home conditions are probably the factor of 
first importance in the problem of truancy. Neglect in the 
home due to poverty, the death of the father, invalidism of the 
mother when there are a large number of small children, will 
almost inevitably have a disastrous effect upon the school 
attendance of the children. 

It was pointed out in a preceding chapter that while it is not 
easy to determine on the basis of a single visit to the home, the 



158 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

condition of the family with respect to poverty or comfort, 
nevertheless sufficient information can be obtained to make 
possible the classification of the families into economic groups.' 
Table XVII shows the number and the percentage of boys who 

TABLE XVII 

Economic Status of Homes of 368 Parental 
School Boys 



Economic Group 


Number 


Percentage 


Very poor 

Poor 

Comfortable 

Very comfortable. . 


IS9 
136 

65 
8 


43 
37 
18 

2 


Total 


368 


100 



came from the different kinds of homes. It shows also that 
of the 368 boys whose homes were visited, the largest number 
in any one group, 43 per cent, were from "very poor" homes 
and that 80 per cent of the boys were in the two lowest groups 
of ' ' poor ' ' and ' ' very poor ' ' families . Poverty is not necessarily 
the cause of truancy, for truancy and poverty alike may be due 
to one and the same cause — drink or incompetence, for example 
— but truancy has, nevertheless, a very clear relation to poverty. 
A very considerable number of these "truant" families were 
on the books of one or more of the charitable organizations of the 
city. The number that obtained public outdoor relief through 
the county agent's office could not be ascertained, but inquiries 
made at the "confidential exchange" showed that 117 out of 
the 368 families of truant boys were being assisted by different 
social agencies, chiefly, of course, by the United Charities. 

It is almost unnecessary to point out that the families that 
furnish the truant candidates for the Parental School are not 

' See chap, ix, "Non-Attendance at the Source," p. 124, for a discussion 
of the method of classification. 



THE HABITUAL TRUANT 



159 



only poor but foreign, and that many of these boys are the 
children of immigrant parents who have never learned to speak 
English and who are obviously unable to understand our edu- 
cational methods and policy. These truants and incorrigibles 
also sufifer from the fact that their homes are broken as well as 
poor and foreign. A very considerable number of truant boys 
were the children of widowed or deserted mothers; some were 
motherless or wholly orphaned. Table XVIII shows the num- 

TABLE XVIII 

Parental Status of Truant Children, 1908-15 



Parental Condition 


Number 


Percentage 


Father dead 


680 

341 

78 

35 

121 

30 
16 

6 


17 


Mother dead 


9 

2 
I 

3 

I 


Both parents dead 

Separated or divorced 

Father deserted 


Mother deserted 


One or both parents insane 

Father or mother blind or crip- 
pled 


* 
* 


Families in abnormal condi- 
tion 

Families apparently normal 


1,307 
2,683 


33 
67 


Total number of families f 


3,990 


100 



*Less than i per cent. 

tParental condition was not reported in 38 cases. 

ber of children who came from homes of this kind during the 
eight-year period for which data were available. According 
to this table 67 per cent of the boys came from homes that were 
apparently normal in that they had both parents living, and 
33 per cent, a very large proportion, were from homes broken 
by death, desertion, or some similar calamity.' In 20 per cent 

'It is of interest that data for the year 1909-10, when information 
was secured from records of private agencies to supplement court records, 
show an even larger proportion of broken homes. 



i6o TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

of the cases the boy was the child of a widowed or deserted 
mother, who was obhged to work in order to keep her home 
and children together. 

It seems clear that the working mother is an important 
factor in promoting truancy. For example, out of 368 boys 
whose homes were visited, 122, or 33 per cent, had working 
mothers. The occupations of these women were mostly 
unskilled and underpaid. They were chiefly washwomen, scrub- 
women, and seamstresses, but some were waitresses and 
midwives, a few sold newspapers on the street, and others 
worked in factories. In many cases their work was irregular. 
Either they were out of work entirely at times, or they worked 
only two or three days in the week. The significant thing is 
that so many of these women who try to be wage-earners and 
at the same time mothers and home-makers for a large family 
of children fail in both occupations. The mother is obliged to 
neglect both her home and her children, and truancy is one of 
the first symptoms of serious neglect. 

It should not, however, be overlooked that a few of these 
boys came from comfortable homes. Table XVII showed 18 
per cent from fairly comfortable and 2 per cent from unques- 
tionably comfortable homes. Although small numerically, 
this group of boys presents a most troublesome problem. It 
is probably true that the cases of children from fairly well-to-do 
but undisciplined homes are the most difficult of treatment. 
Such homes are not degraded, and there is no obviously demoral- 
izing condition on which an appeal to the Juvenile Court might 
be based; they are not homes in receipt of charitable relief and 
so they are not subject to the authority and control to which 
some weaker families are subjected. 

For example, in one such "comfortable" home a truant 
boy, who had been greatly indulged, was allowed to sell papers 
on the street until he became demoralized. The mother ex- 
cused him, saying "he did not like to go to school but liked to 



THE HABITUAL TRUANT i6i 

sell papers and to make his pennies," although she said that he 
did not need to earn money. The principal, of course, said that 
the mother spoiled him by letting him stay away from school. 

In another "comfortable" home, a well-furnished but 
extremely disorderly six-room apartment, where there were four 
children, the father was a man of good habits, an engineer, 
earning very good wages but working at night, so that the 
children saw very little of him. The mother, who had been 
married at seventeen, was incompetent and unable to control 
the children, even when they were quite small. The father, 
who was Catholic, and the mother, who was Protestant, quar- 
reled a great deal. They were alternately very severe and very 
indulgent with the children, and there was a general lack of 
discipline in the home. When the two boys were nine and seven 
years old, they were both brought into court for habitual 
truancy and sent to the Parental School. 

A careful study of the home conditions from which the 
Parental School boys came showed many similar cases of com- 
fortable but "slack" homes, of indifferent fathers and of weak, 
easy-going, indolent mothers. Sometimes the fact that there 
is a large family of children gives the mother an excuse for neg- 
lecting some of them, but unfortunately those neglected are 
the ones in need of special care. 

One boy, who was sent to the Parental School when he was 
only nine years old, belonged to a family of nine children. The 
mother complained that she could not control him and wished 
to have him committed. She said that he had begun smoking 
cigarettes when he was only six years old and the habit had 
been growing on him steadily, that he stayed out late at night, 
and was quite beyond her control. After four months at the 
Parental School the boy was paroled, but in six months he was 
returned again. The second time he remained eight months, 
and he told the investigator who called at his home during his 
second parole that he would be glad to go back again. 



1 62 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Occasionally also there are cases of unreasonable and hys- 
terical parents who are constantly interfering with the school 
rules and the regulations. In one family in which there were 
ten children, all of whom had had trouble at school because of 
the mother's constant interferences, one boy found it easier 
and pleasanter to play truant than to be the occasion of per- 
sistent wrangling. It became necessary to commit him to the 
Parental School as a habitual truant, although he came from 
a comfortable home and had well-meaning and seemingly 
intelligent parents. 

In another family two boys from a good home gave a great 
deal of trouble at school because they were encouraged by their 
parents in a defiant attitude toward any attempt to discipline 
them. The younger boy was finally sent to the Parental 
School for violation of the rules and for truancy, and the mother 
was so indignant at the attempt to discipline her boy that she 
moved out of the neighborhood. The boy spent two months 
at the Parental School, and, although the mother disapproved 
very strongly of the boy's commitment, she told the investi- 
gator who questioned her that after frequent visits to the school 
she came to think highly of it and she felt sure that it had had 
a most beneficial effect upon her son. 

Lack of discipline was found to be especially common in 
cases in which the mother was ill or the parents were dead or 
divorced and the children living with relatives. One boy's 
grandmother, for example, had always spoiled him by giving 
him pennies for cigarettes and refusing to co-operate with the 
teachers. In another case the parents were divorced and the 
ten-year-old boy, who was in the second grade, was brought 
into court as a habitual truant. He had attended at least six 
different schools, public and private, and was charged with 
habitual truancy, incorrigibility, and steaHng. It appeared 
that his parents were divorced, that his mother had remarried, 
that the boy had lived for years with his grandmother and had 



THE HABITUAL TRUANT 163 

then divided his time between five aunts, two uncles, his step- 
father's home, and his father's boarding place. After he had 
been five months at the Parental School, he was paroled to live 
with his mother, but within a week jumped from a second-story 
window at midnight and ran away to an aunt who was glad to 
harbor him until he was returned to the Parental School for 
violating his parole. After another term there, he was again 
paroled to his mother, but soon ran away to his father, who was 
very indulgent and liked to have him around, although the 
father's boarding place was in a most disreputable neighbor- 
hood and was an entirely unfit place for a boy. 

Attention has been called to the fact that these children who 
offend against the rules of the school or refuse to attend the 
school sessions are brought before the same court that deals 
with delinquent and dependent children under the juvenile court 
law. In a later chapter^ attention is called to the cases of 
truant children who had already been before the court, either as 
delinquent or dependent. But the cases cited here indicate 
that many of the truants and schoolroom incorrigibles share 
with the other two groups their essential characteristics, namely 
''lack of proper parental care."^ The truant child may not 
have become technically delinquent, the home may not yet have 

' See chap, xiii, "Truancy in Relation to Dependency and Delinquency." 

= See Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 23, sec. 169, in which the following 
definitions are found: 

"For the purpose of this act, the words 'dependent child' and 'neg- 
lected child' shall mean any male child who while under the age of seven- 
teen years or any female child who while under the age of eighteen years, 
for any reason, is destitute, homeless or abandoned; or dependent upon the 
public for support; or has not proper parental care or guardianship; or 
habitually begs or receives alms; or is found living in any house of ill-fame 
or with any vicious or disreputable person; or has a home which by reason 
of neglect, cruelty or depravity, on the part of its parents, guardian or any 
other person in whose care it may be, is an unfit place for such a child; and 
any child who while under the age of ten years is found begging, peddling 
or selling any articles or singing or playing any musical instrument for gain 



1 64 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

reached the stage of unfitness which renders it imperative for the 
child to be placed under court guardianship as dependent. 
Later he may become delinquent or dependent, but for the time 
being he remains under the educational authorities. Any 
social agency that can discover the conditions hostile to child 
life and that has the power to deal with them for the safe- 
guarding of the child and the upbuilding of the home has an 
unparalleled opportunity for social usefulness. Some of the 
machinery that has been devised in Chicago for dealing both 
with truant children and with indifferent or defiant parents 
will be described in the next two chapters. 

upon the street or giving any public entertainments or accompanies or is 
used in aid of any person so doing. 

"The words 'delinquent child' shall mean any male child who while 
under the age of seventeen years or any female child who while under the 
age of eighteen years, violates any law of this State; or is incorrigible, or 
knowingly associates with thieves, vicious or immoral persons; or without 
just cause and without that [the] consent of its parents, guardian or custo- 
dian absents itself from its home or place of abode, or is growing up in idle- 
ness or crime; or knowingly frequents a house of ill-repute; or knowingly 
frequents any policy shop or place where any gaming device is operated; or 
frequents any saloon or dram shop where intoxicating liquors are sold; or 
patronizes or visits any public pool room or bucket shop; or wanders about 
the streets in the night time without being on any lawful business or lawful 
occupations; or habitually wanders about any railroad yards or tracks or 
jumps or attempts to jump onto [any] moving train; or enters any car 
or engine without lawful authority; or uses vile, obscene, vulgar, profane or 
indecent language in [any] public place or about any school house; or is 
guilty of indecent or lascivious conduct; any child committing any of these 
acts herein mentioned shall be deemed a delinquent child and shall be cared 
for as such in the manner hereinafter provided." 



CHAPTER XI 

THE PARENTAL SCHOOL 

Attention was called in the chapter dealing with the causes 
of non-attendance^ to the fact that, in a number of cases, the 
parents are unable to make their children go regularly to school 
or to secure their good behavior when they are there. The 
following quotation from a report of the Board of Education 
published in 1893 indicates the need that was felt more than 
twenty years ago for an institution adapted to the peculiar 
needs of such children, and the serious objections felt against 
suspension from school as the only penalty for misbehavior: 

Responsibility for the proper restraint, training and care of this 
class of children, rests first upon the parents, then upon the State. 
Many parents have appealed to us during the year, asking what 
could be done to save a wilful, ungovernable child. No provision 
is made for their restraint, until they violate some law under which 
they can be arrested as criminals, and then they are committed to the 
jail, bridewell, or prison. The question of protecting society by the 
right education of these children has been considered for several 

years by the various clubs and charitable organizations 

Instead of suspending refractory and vicious children from our schools, 
provision should be made so that a child who is not manageable with 
better children, shall first be placed under the care of special teachers 
in a disciplinary school, and when they become unmanageable by 
parents and teachers, they should be confined in a parental home or 
school, thus providing a means of properly educating and training 
every child. 

The gradual realization of the necessity for providing 
effective machinery for dealing with these children was traced 

' See chap, ix, "Non-Attendance at the Source," p. 146. 

165 



1 66 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

in another chapter/ and it was shown that when the parental 
school law was passed in 1899 and the Chicago Parental School 
finally opened its doors in 1902, hope was expressed that there 
had begun a new era in the care of children. 

The parental school law^ provided that any truant officer 
or any agent of the Board of Education or any reputable citizen 
of Chicago could petition the Circuit or County Court (Juvenile 
Branch) to inquire into the case of any child between seven and 
fourteen years of age who was found not to be attending school 
or was reported to be guilty of habitual truancy or of persistent 
violation of the rules of the school, and the court was author- 
ized to commit any such child to the Parental School until he 
became fourteen years of age. The school opened January 31, 
1902, and between that date and the end of the school year 
in June, 19 15, 4,198 boys had been committed to the insti- 
tution.3 

The school is located on a farm in the sparsely settled north- 
west section of the city, known as Bowmanville. The farm 
contains no acres and is stocked with farm animals and fowls, 
so that the boys can have work out of doors, both on little plots 
of their own for which they are responsible, and in connection 
with the general work of the farm under the supervision of a 
trained farmer and teacher of agriculture. There is likewise 
provision for manual training of the usual kind, and, of course, 
for the ordinary subjects taught in the first seven grades of the 
elementary schools. The school, which was able to care for 
only thirteen boys when it was opened in January, 1902, has 
been enlarged several times until it has now eight cottages in 
each of which 40 boys can be cared for. 

^ See chap, v, "Parallel Development of Child Labor and Compulsory 
Education Laws," p. 86. 

'Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 122, sees. 144, 145. 

3 See chap, x, "The Habitual Truant and the Schoolroom Incorrigible," 
Table XIV, "Number of Boys Committed to the Parental School, 1902-15." 



THE PARENTAL SCHOOL 167 

Under the law, a child may remain under the jurisdiction 
of the school until he is fourteen years of age, when he is auto- 
matically discharged. No provision is made in the parental 
school law for children between fourteen and sixteen years of 
age, although children between these ages are now under the 
jurisdiction of the compulsory education authorities. This 
lack of provision in the parental school law for children who 
have reached the age of fourteen is a serious omission. When 
the law was passed in 1899, the compulsory school law provided 
for a fourteen-year-age limit, but the amendment to the com- 
pulsory law in 1907 which extended the period of compulsory 
attendance, under certain conditions, to the age of sixteen should 
have been accompanied by a change in the parental school law 
extending the age limit to sixteen for that institution or providing 
a new school for children between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. 
The effect of the discrepancy between the age limits in the 
parental school law and in the compulsory attendance law has 
been discussed in several reports of the Board of Education.^ 
For example, the president of the board in his annual report in 
19 14 stated emphatically his belief in the necessity of amending 
the law: "The parental school law should consistently provide 
sixteen years as the maximum age of commitment, instead of 
fourteen as at present."^ 

After a boy has been committed to the school he may be 
released on parole if his conduct is satisfactory during the first 
four weeks after his commitment. In that case he is returned 
to his home, but remains subject to the control of the school for 
a year from the date of his commitment. Reports are made 
by the principal of the school to which the child is returned 
after his release; and if he attends school regularly and is well 

' Annual reports of the Board of Education of Chicago, 1909-10, p. ^si 
iQio-ii.p. 133; i9ii-i2,p. 183; 1913-14, p. 417. 

* Sixtieth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago (19 13-14), 
see p. 14. 



1 68 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

behaved, he is honorably discharged at the end of the year. 
Otherwise he is returned to the Parental School, and the law 
provides that he must then be kept there for at least three 
months before he is again paroled, and in case he is returned 
a second time to the school he must be kept for twelve months 
before his third parole is granted him. The superintendent of 
the school says with reference to the conduct of the boys who 
are paroled that "at first practically all reports are good," and 
it is not until a few months after parole that reports of unsatis- 
factory conduct begin to come in. 

The truth is, of course, that a return to earlier habits on the 
part of the boy is exactly what is to be expected, if he returns 
to the conditions out of which arose his earlier truancy or 
incorrigibility. For example, of the 326 boys in the school on 
July I, 1913, no came from homes in which either one or both 
parents had died, and 36 from homes in which one or both had 
deserted, and it has already been pointed out that the vast 
majority come from homes of great poverty. The lack of care 
resulting from these conditions which were largely responsible 
for bringing the boys into court and into the school is likely to 
bring them there again. The children are, of course, young. 
While the majority of the boys committed are twelve and thir- 
teen years old, there are each year considerable numbers of 
boys of eight, nine, and ten years old. It is not a matter of 
surprise if, when the home conditions are unsatisfactory, the 
old habits reappear when these very young boys are returned 
after a few months of care and discipline and it is found neces- 
sary again to take them away from the old conditions and the 
old surroundings. 

It has been said that these boys are committed to the school 
on a kind of indeterminate sentence with a minimum com- 
mitment of four weeks. Since they are of such different ages 
and come from such different home conditions, it is found 
necessary to keep some of them much longer than others. 



THE PARENTAL SCHOOL 



169 



Table XIX shows for the boys committed during one repre- 
sentative year the number of months spent in the Parental 
School on their first commitment. According to these fig- 
ures, 58 per cent of the boys committed during a single year 
remained at the school between four and six months; 25 per 
cent remained longer than six months; very few remained more 
than nine months; and 17 per cent remained less than four 

months. 

TABLE XIX 

NtJMBER OF Months Spent in Parental School on First 
Commitment by 471 Boys Committed during a Single Year 



Number of Months 


Boys 








Number 


Percentage 


I and less than 2 


26 


6 1 Less than 


2 and less than 3 


14 


3 > 4 months : 


3 and less than 4 


39 


8 J 17 per cent 


4 and less than 5 


144 


30 \ 4-6 months: 


5 and less than 6 


130 


28 / 58 per cent 


6 and less than 7 


50 


II 




7 and less than 8 


33 


7 




8 and less than 9 


IS 


3 


More than 


9 and less than 10 


7 


I 


[ 6 months : 


10 and less than 11 


4 


I 


25 per cent 


1 1 and less than 12 


5 


I 




1 2 and over 


4 


I 








Total* 


471 


100 



*The correct total of boys committed during the year was 473, but the 
total is given as 471 instead of 473 because the records of two boys could 
not be found. The data given are for the year ending June 30, 1910. 

With regard to the effect of Parental School care on the con- 
duct of the boys committed, the statement of the superintendent 
is to the effect that "80 to 90 per cent of the boys make 
good" and that " the object of the school is accompHshed in fully 
85 per cent of the cases,""^ but obviously no such quantitative 

' Sixtieth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago (19 13-14), 
p. 382. 



lyo TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

measure can be accepted. The question of the effect of 
the Parental School treatment upon the boys who are sent 
there cannot be measured by any statistical tests. Certain 
definite facts are available with regard to the number of boys 
returned for violation of parole, but it must be pointed out 
that the return of a paroled boy is the result of careful follow-up 
work on the part of the Parental School authorities. It would 
be easy, if their methods were lax, to show a negligible percent- 
age of returns. Of the 471 boys committed during 1909-10, 
the year for which figures are available, 119 had been returned 
to the school for violation of parole up to April, 191 2; of these 
19 had been twice returned. Of the remainder, 65 were dis- 
charged from the school because the age limit had been reached 
and they could not be placed on parole at all, and 112 others 
were discharged for age during parole. That is, 294 boys were 
under fourteen years of age and therefore eUgible for return, 
and 119, or 40 per cent of these, were returned. 

That so large a proportion of boys were returned for violating 
their paroles would suggest the economy of supplementing the 
work of the school, which deals only with the child, by some 
agency for deahng with parents and the home or with the 
neighborhood to which the child is to be returned. These 
figures merely confirm and give a quantitative value to the series 
of cases cited in the preceding chapters. The school cannot, 
in the nature of things, undo the consequences of the earlier 
experiences of the child, nor in all cases render him immune 
to the harmful influences that lie about his home and the 
neighborhood in which he lives. In the cases of many children 
the influence of the Parental School is completely successful, 
and in the case of some, it might be possible to secure the needed 
discipline with even less stringent treatment. 

In the course of the visits of our investigators to the homes 
of the truant boys, the mothers were asked whether or not they 
had ever visited the Parental School and what they thought 



THE PARENTAL SCHOOL 171 

of the training the boys received there. It appeared that in 
more than 90 per cent of the cases, the mother or someone from 
the family had gone to see the boy during his detention. On 
the whole, the mothers who visited the school — and nearly 
three hundred of them did visit their boys while they were there 
— were very much pleased with it, and expressed their approval 
of the training the boys received there. One stepmother, in 
fact, said, "the place was much too good" for the boys who 
went there, and one mother objected that it was such a nice 
place that it made the boys want to go back. 

Testimony to the effect that the boy's conduct had improved 
after his return was almost universal. Now and then, of course, 
a mother insisted that her boy had been committed to the school 
only because of the malice of the teacher or the truant officer, 
and maintained that he had always been so good that there 
was no room for improvement in his conduct. Sometimes, too, 
the mothers explained that the boys had been released because 
they were "of age," and now that they had gone to work there 
could be, obviously, no further trouble about school attendance. 
But more than two-thirds of all the mothers interviewed believed 
that the discipline at the school had been a kind of moral tonic 
and that the boy's conduct had shown a distinct improvement 
after his return. More than one mother who thought that her 
boy had begun to show signs of a moral relapse spoke with 
great feeling of his improved conduct just after he returned from 
the school and wished that he were not too old to be sent back, 
as she feared he was drifting into his "old ways" and was again 
in need of disciplinary treatment for a time. 

It was a common experience for the investigator to be told 
by the mother of the boy's superior "manners" after his release, 
"He always gets a chair for me to sit down and never used to"; 
"He always hangs up his clothes now and puts his things 
away"; and "They'll learn 'em to do there what you can't 
learn 'em at home," were the comments frequently heard. 



172 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

One boy "came home fat" and was "so good" to her, his 
mother said, until he lost his job and got into some new difficulty. 
Another boy who was "wild and crazy" before going to the 
school came back "steady" and "cleaned the house nicely" 
when his mother asked him to. Another mother, equally 
appreciative of improved domestic habits, thought the school 
had "done everything" for her boy; "when he came home," 
she said, "you should see him, he kept so clean, set chairs for 
me, and gave the lady a seat in the car"; of course, she said, 
she "couldn't always keep him like that, but never yet since 
his return " had he made any trouble that she knew of. Another 
mother noted that her boy had not yet gone back to his old 
gang, and he had been home so long she had begun to lose her 
fear that he would rejoin the old companions who had been in 
part, at least, responsible for "his trouble." One mother said 
that the Parental School was a fine place for boys because 
"they'll do there what they won't do at home"; another 
explained that her boy used to "chase the streets, and someone 
had to go out at night and hunt him" before he was sent away, 
but after he came home from the Parental School he "stayed 
at home evenings and was nice about the house." Even the 
briefer expressions of appreciation such as "Oh, he learned 
a lot" or "He minds better now," which were so common, were 
significant. 

The fact that out of nearly three hundred "Parental School 
mothers" who were interviewed, not one had anything but 
kindly appreciation of the school's work and influence is an 
unusual tribute to the fine work which is being done there. 

In many cities the formation of special "truant rooms" has 
been adopted as another method of dealing with certain types 
of truant boys. In Chicago the first experiment of this kind 
was the fitting-out of a room at the Jenner School with work 
benches and other faciUties for handwork and with twenty- 
four desks for study. A teacher especially adapted for dealing 



THE PARENTAL SCHOOL 173 

with difficult and unruly boys was placed in charge, and twenty- 
four boys from various schools were sent back to their homes 
by the judge of the Juvenile Court, but with the understanding 
that they were to go to this truant room instead of to their old 
places in school. In discussing the experiment, a recent report 
of the Board of Education said, "For the first time the boys 
became conscious of the power of the state to control their 
actions; they lived at home and were all anxious to return to 
their own schools, which they could do after several months of 
approved good behavior." 

This first truant room in Chicago was established eight 
years ago, and eleven other such rooms have since been opened. 
In so far as the truant room is used as a substitute for com- 
mitment to the Parental School, a very considerable economy 
is effected, since obviously the cost of the maintenance of the 
children at the Parental School is very high compared with the 
cost of educating the child coming from his own home to the ordi- 
nary sessions of the day schools. On the other hand it 
should be remembered that the use of the truant rooms must be 
definitely restricted to the boys who come from homes where 
the conditions are favorable and that the boy whose greatest 
need is to be taken out of an unfavorable or demoralizing home 
environment cannot be helped by a transfer to a truant room. 

Table XX shows the estimated average per capita cost of 
the Parental School children as compared with the average cost 
of the children in the regular grades. The per capita cost in 
the "truant room" is of course higher than the average per 
capita cost as given below. 

The difference between the per capita cost in the Parental 
School and in the elementary school is very great, and it is 
scarcely necessary to explain that this difference pays for 
the support of the child, except for the clothing which the 
parents are required to furnish, as well as for his schooling, and 
that this support is on a level of decency and comfort that is 



174 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

TABLE XX 

Cost of Maintenance and Per Capita Cost in the Chicago Parental 

School, 1902-14, Compared with Average per Capita Cost 

IN the Elementary Schools 

(Compiled from Annual Reports of the Chicago Board of Education.) 



Parental School 
Total Cost of 
Maintenance 



Parental School 

Average 

Membership 



Parental School 
Annual per 
Capita Cost 



Average Cost 
per Capita in 
Chicago Ele- 
mentary Schools 



1901- 2 

1902- 3 

1903- 4 

1904- 5 

1905- 6 

1906- 7 

1907- 8 

1908- 9 
1909-10 
1910-11 
1911-12 
1912-13 
1913-14 



^37,223 
60,161 
69,777 
73,159 
78,815 
77,336 
80,602 
87,448 
86,818 
89,812 
80,521 
91,141 
90,347 



87 
154 
188 
208 
212 
217 

253 
263 
298 
303 
313 
322 

3^3 



$427 
390 
371 
351 
371 
356 
318 
332 
291 
296 

257 
279 
288 



•85 
.66 

■15 

•73 
•77 
•39 
•S8 
.62 
.82 
.70 
•5° 
.69 
.46 



$27 
26 
28 
27 
27 
29 
28 
32 
32 
34 
35 
36 
37 



vastly superior to the standard maintained in the homes from 
which the majority of the children come. For example, each 
boy has, as one mother put it, "a little white bed all to him- 
self." It also pays for a longer period of instruction, since the 
per capita cost for the Parental School is based on membership 
for twelve months, while the ordinary day school lasts less than 
ten. And there are additional and costly features of manual 
and agricultural training in the Parental School to which refer- 
ence has already been made. 

Two points should be made in this connection. The first 
is that treatment in the Parental School is too costly, both in 
pain of enforced separation to the parents and children and in 
dollars and cents to the city, to be used for cases that could be 
handled successfully in other ways. If an agency could be 
developed by which the home could be so dealt with as to do 



THE PARENTAL SCHOOL 



175 



away with causes of the child's irregularity, and so reduce the 
number of boys committed and recommitted to the Parental 
School, it might pay for itself. It is admitted, however, that 
a skilful agency of the kind referred to would probably discover 
many more cases than are known today for whose treatment 
the aid of the court and of the Parental School would be invoked. 
And the second point is that when an institution can render 
such efficient and valuable service to children in need of such 
care, it is most unjust that any who are in need should fail to 
benefit. This injustice is most flagrant in the case of girl 
truants. Attention is called elsewhere to the difference between 
the non-attending boy who becomes a nuisance and the non- 
attending girl who may be a drudge or who may in fact be the 
victim of demoralizing experiences while she is out of school. 

Obviously, however, the failure to receive the benefits of 
the school intended for her are as serious in the case of the girl 
as of the boy, if not more serious. Table XXI, which has been 
compiled from the reports of the Superintendent of Compulsory 
Education, shows that he has had to serve notices in the cases 

TABLE XXI 

Number and Sex of Truants Dealt with by 
THE Chicago Department of Com- 
pulsory Education, 1906-14 



Year Ending 
June 30 


Number 
Boys 


Number 
Girls 


Total 


1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

191 1 

1912 

1913 

1914 


4,750 
3,004 
3,294 
2,942 
3,482 
4,086 
3,651 
3,577 
3,241 


151 
266 
119 
112 
132 
144 
150 
210 
158 


4,901 
3,270 
3,413 
3,054 
3,614 
4,230 
3,801 
3,787 
3,399 


Total. . . . 


32,027 


1,442 


33,469 



176 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

of nearly 1,500 girls during the years 1906-14. Although, 
according to this table, nearly 1,500 girls or their parents have 
been "warned" concerning the compulsory attendance law, 
only 37 girls have been brought into the Juvenile Court.^ 
Moreover, since there is no cottage for girls at the Parental 
School, it is useless to bring them before the court, as there is 
no opportunity for commitment and a reproof is of little effect. 
In an earlier study of the wards of the Juvenile Court,^ attention 
was called to the illiterate condition of girls brought into court 
as delinquent. Emphasis was then expressly laid on the fact 
that more perfect rather than less perfect machinery is needed 
for dealing with truant girls than for dealing with truant boys, 
because there is the greater temptation to exploit them in the 
home and because it was found that the delinquent iUiterate 
girls come from poorer homes than those from which the 
boys come. The superintendent of compulsory education had 
already called attention in 1907 to the increase in the number 
of truant girls and of delinquent girls. Now, as then, however, 
so far as the advantages of the Parental School are concerned, 
the girl is wholly neglected, and, except so far as prosecutions 
in the Municipal Court may bring pressure to bear on a certain 
group of parents,^ the truant girl is uncared for until she comes 
before the Juvenile Court as delinquent. 

' See chap, x, Table XII. 

^ The Delinquent Child and the Home, pp. 143-45. 
3 See chap, xiv, "Enforcement of the Compulsory Education Law in the 
Municipal Court," p. 205. 



CHAPTER XII 

TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN RELATION TO MENTAL 
AND PHYSICAL DEFECTS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 

Because a certain minimum of education is essential, the 
school authorities are required to secure the attendance of all the 
children within the age limits fixed by the statute. Progressive 
school authorities, however, go beyond this and undertake to 
do whatever must be done not only to secure the attendance 
of the child, but to see that he is in condition to profit by his 
work when he is there. The underlying principle here is that 
of prevention — the prevention of physical, mental, and moral 
weakness or deterioration — the prevention, in the case of 
the problem under discussion, of truancy and non-attendance 
rather than the apphcation of disciplinary methods to these 
problems. An illustration of such preventive work is to be 
found in the development of the school medical and nursing 
services. 

The volume of absence due to sickness, preventable or 
inevitable, is of course very great. The lowering of the vitality 
and capacity of the children by physical and nervous defects 
is also symptomatic of serious educational loss. In the year 
1909, for example, the Chicago Health Department examined 
647,842 school children for the prevention of the spread of 
contagious diseases. As a result of this examination it was 
found necessary to exclude 15,618 children from school as a pre- 
ventive measure against the spread of contagion. Moreover, 
123,897 children were given complete physical examinations 
and of these, 63,199, or in round numbers more than 50 per 
cent, were found to have such physical defects as defective 
teeth, 44,483; bad tonsils, 27,556; impaired vision, 21,824; 

177 



178 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

anaemia, 3,606; poor nutrition, 2,983; skin diseases, 2,593; 
impaired hearing, 2,830; and orthopedic defects, 1,433.* 

More recently, during the year 1915, the Chicago Health 
Department made 1,128,232 inspections of school children 
beside 79,383 physical examinations. As a result of the inspec- 
tions 21,730 children were excluded from school; as a result of the 
physical examinations 37,356 children, or again nearly 50 per 
cent, were found to suffer from physical defects, and 32,860 cases 
were referred to the school nurses. They, in turn, made 1,316 
calls at the homes, and took or sent more than twenty thousand 
children to dispensaries or other agencies for treatment.^ The 
social waste that has been prevented through the installation 
of the school medical and nursing service is incalculable, and 
there is every reason to hope for the further development of 
these important social agencies. 

No adequate discussion of the subject of medical inspection 
and of the school nursing service can be undertaken here. The 
importance of medical inspection not only for the purpose of 
preventing epidemics, but for the purpose of discovering physical 
defects that may be removed or lessened, is generally recognized 
and is the subject of an extensive and rapidly increasing body 
of literature.3 The importance of medical examination of those 
who leave school to go to work, in order that a minimum of 

' See Bulletin of the Chicago School of Sanitary Instruction, November 
15, 1913, in which may be found a summary of the work of medical inspection 
of school children for several years. 

^ See Bulletin of the Chicago School of Sanitary Instruction, February 5, 
1916. The Division of Child Hygiene was constituted in 1915 as follows: 
school health ofScers, 106; supervising health officers, 18; field nurses, 92; 
supervising field nurses, 6; superintendent of nurses, i; dental surgeons, 
10; supervising dentist, i ; ophthalmologist, 1 ; infant welfare physicians, 
3; infant welfare nurses > 3; station attendants, 3. 

3 See, for example, W. S. Cornell, Health and Medical Inspection of 
School Children (Philadelphia, 191 2); L. H. Gulick and L. P. Ayres, 
Medical Inspection of Schools (New York, 1913); L. D. Cruickshank and 



MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DEFECTS 179 

physical development may be assured, hardly needs emphasis. 
The working child, however, is discussed in a later chapter. 

When the numbers of defective and sick children are so 
great, it is easy to think only of the loss of school opportunity 
connected with physical incapacity. In the very volume of 
the inevitable loss, however, is to be found the reason for 
reducing to a minimum the preventable absences. That sick- 
ness is responsible for a very great deal of non-attendance is 
well known, and further information on this point was con- 
tributed recently by the Chicago Health Department. A study 
of school absentees was made by the Health Department in 
the winter of 19 15- 16 during the prevalence of an epidemic of 
grip, when there was hkewise danger from scarlet fever. During 
the four days preceding the Christmas, 1915, recess, 6,407 
calls were made at the homes of absent children and the 
causes of their absence are grouped in Table XXII. 

TABLE XXII 
Percentage Distribution of Causes of Absence 
(Compiled From Bulletin of Chicago School of Sanitary Instruction, 
February 5, 1916, p. 29.) 

Absent because of illness 61 

"Respiratory diseases" 47 

"Other severe conditions" 3 

"Vaccination" 2 

"Contagious diseases" 4 

"Indisposition" 5 

Absence from miscellaneous causes 39 

Total 100 

L. W. Mackenzie, School Clinics at Home and Abroad (London, 1913); 
T. N. Kelynack, Medical Examination of Schools and Scholars (London, 
1910); L. W. Mackenzie and E. Matthew, The Medical Inspection of School 
Children (Edinburgh, 1904); Great Britain, Annual Reports of the Chief 
Medical Officer of the Board of Education (especially 19 10). 



i8o TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

According to this table, the Health Department nurses 
found the absence of 6i per cent of the children due to illness. 
The remaining 39 per cent were absent for various causes, such 
as "no clothing," ''truancy," or because the nurse reported 
"wrong address," or "not at home." 

It seems scarcely necessary to develop arguments in favor 
of the support of an adequate medical and nursing staff. When 
millions of dollars are being spent each year on educational 
facilities, it is of course an elementary economy to prevent the 
waste of these facihties through preventable a,bsences or because 
the children who attend are not in fit condition to take advan- 
tage of the opportunities offered them. 

The importance of discovering mental defects by prompt 
and adequate examination and of securing proper methods of 
instruction for mentally deficient children is another aspect of 
the prevention of social waste that cannot be treated in this 
volume.^ In this connection, however, some facts relating 
to the relation between truancy and retardation^ taken from 
the records of the truant boys brought into the Juvenile Court 
become of interest. It is generally agreed that absence, whether 
preventable or not, because it disturbs the child's relation to 
his school work, leads often to truancy, as well as to retardation. 

' There is an increasing body of literature dealing with this subject. See, 
for example, W. E. Fernald, Importance of the Early Discovery and Treatment 
of Defectives in Public School Classes (Philadelphia, 1906); C. P. Lapage, 
Feeblemindedness in Children of School Age (Manchester, 191 1); G. E. 
Shuttleworth and W. A. Potts, Mentally Deficient Children (Philadelphia, 
1910); A. F. Tredgold, Mental Deficiency (New York, 191 2); A. Holmes, 
Conservation of the Child (Philadelphia, 191 2); W. H. Holmes, School 
Organization and the Individual Child (Worcester, Mass., 191 2); T. N. 
Kelynack, Defective Children (London, 1915). 

^ On this subject, which we cannot discuss at length here, see, for 
example, L. P. Ayres, Laggards in Our Schools (New York, 1909) ; L. B. Blan, 
Special Study of the Incidence of Retardation (New York, 191 1); L. Witmer, 
The Special Class for Backward Children (Philadelphia, 19 11). 



MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DEFECTS 



i»i 



In studying the Juvenile Court records of truant boys in Chicago 
it was possible to compare the ages and the grades of the boys 
brought into court, and Table XXIII has therefore been pre- 
pared showing the ages of the boys brought in during the two 
years 1909-10 and 1910-11, together with the grades last 
attended. A comparison between the ages and the grades in 
this table makes it possible, of course, to ascertain how far 
these boys were making normal progress in school. 

TABLE XXIII 

Age and Grade or Truant Boys Brought into Court between 
July i, 1909, and June 30, 1911* 





Sub- 
normal 
Rooms 


Grade 






1st 


2d 


3d 


4th 


sth 


6th 


7th 


8th 




7 years . . 




3 
13 
15 
II 

9 

13 

6 


2 
22 














5 

39 

85 

151 

217 


8 years . . 




4 
37 
62 
64 
S6 
45 












years . . 




26 

33 

23 
24 

8 


6 
33 
75 
97 
69 


I 

12 
36 








10 years. . 










1 1 years . . 


2 

3 

I 


7 
30 
53 


I 

7 

19 


3 
I 


1 2 years . . 

13 years. . 

14 years . . 


89 
70 

I 


319 

274 
2 




















Total. . 


6 


70 


138 


268 


280 


209 


90 


27 


4 


1,092 



*Data from court records. These are boys brought into court for the first time as 
truants. They may have been in before as delinquents or dependents. The total number of 
cases in the table is 1,092 instead of 1,110, because the records, although giving the ages 
failed to give the grades in eighteen cases. 



The table shows that although only 6 of these boys had 
been placed in the subnormal or ungraded rooms, the great 
majority were not so far advanced in school as normal children 
who had attended school regularly should have been. A normal 
child who entered school at the age of seven, as required by the 



i82 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

compulsory education law, would have passed out of the first 
grade and into the second at the age of eight; he would have 
been in the third grade at nine, the fourth grade at ten, and so 
on. In Table XXIII, showing age and grade, the heavy zig- 
zag line divides the boys making reasonable progress in school 
from those who are below the standard demanded of normal 
boys at the corresponding ages. All the numbers below the 
heavy black line represent retarded children, 67 boys 
from eight to thirteen years of age still in the first grade, 
114 boys from nine to thirteen still in the second grade, 
227 boys from ten to thirteen still in the third grade, 241 
boys from eleven to thirteen still in the fourth grade, 160 
twelve- and thirteen-year-old boys in the fifth grade, and 53 
thirteen-year-old boys in the sixth grade — a total of 868 
retarded, or 80 per cent of all the boys brought into court 
by the Department of Compulsory Education during the years 
1909-11. Of the thirteen -year-old boys, i was in the sub- 
normal room, 6 were in the first grade, 8 were in the 
second grade, 45 in the sixth grade; only 22 of these boys were 
above the sixth grade where the normal thirteen-year-old boy 
belongs. 

The relation between truancy and retardation was recognized 
as being a very close one by the members of the New York 
School Inquiry Commission, who, in discussing the subject of 
non-promotion, reported that irregular attendance was "a 
decided factor in increasing the number of non-promotions," 
and pointed out that since absence was "a very large factor 
in increasing the number of non-promotions and hence in 
increasing congestion, the corresponding responsibility of all 
concerned to get children into school and to keep them there 
is therefore clear." 

The educational expert employed by this commission to 
investigate "promotion, non-promotion and part-time" reported 
on the basis of a careful statistical investigation that in all 



MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DEFECTS 183 

grades, the rate of promotion varied inversely with the amount 
of absence/ 

On the subject of the physical condition and mental develop- 
ment of truant boys, on which the regularity of their attendance 
and their conduct and progress in school would in part depend, 
certain facts are to be found in the records of the Department 
of Child-Study and of the Parental School. The records of 
the Department of Child-Study are available, for example, in the 
cases of 456 out of 473 boys committed to the Parental School 
in 1909-10, and show that, according to the tests given by 
that department, 65, or 15 per cent of the boys, were well 
endowed; 38, or 9 per cent of them, were classified as bright; 
and 155, or 36 per cent were normal; that is 60 per cent of 
the whole number were mentally normal; on the other hand, 
37, or 8 per cent, were considered degenerate; 61 others, or 14 
per cent, were below normal; and 79, or 18 per cent, were the 
victims of nervous defects, making a total of 40 per cent that 
could not be called normal. 

But in the judgment of the department 106 of those who 
were mentally normal or above normal were in bad physical 
condition, while 109 others suffered from both physical and 

' Some of the conclusions bearing on this point are so pertinent that 
they may be quoted at length: 

" (3) The amount of absence in all grades is large; whether it cannot 
be greatly reduced is a question worthy of immediate and earnest 
attention. 

"(4) With the exception of the lA grade, absence affected more 
seriously the rate of promotion in the higher than in the lower grades; and 
in all grades, the rate of promotion varies inversely with the amount of 
absence. 

"(5) Absence is a very large factor in increasing the number of 
non-promotions and hence in increasing congestion. 

" (6) In view of the effect of absence on the child's progress through 
the school, the first duty of teachers and principals should be to keep 
children regular in attendance, and the corresponding responsibility of the 
department of school attendance is, therefore, very great." — Report of the 
New York School Inquiry Commission, Vol. I, p. 618. 



1 84 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



mental or nervous defects. In other words, only 152, or 35 
per cent, were in the judgment of the department both normal 
mentally and in "fair" physical condition. 

TABLE XXIV 

Physical and Mental Condition of Boys Committed to Chicago 

Parental School, 1909-10 

(From reports of the Department of Child-Study) 



Mental Condition 



Well endowed 

Bright 

Normal 

Below normal 

Degenerate 

Nervous defects only 

Total . 

No report on mental condition 

Total 



Physical Condition 



Good Fair 



20 
3 

39 
4 
4 
5 



75 
2 



77 



23 
14 
53 
17 
13 
25 



145 



15s 



63 
40 
20 
49 



215 

9 



224 



Total 



65 
38 

61 
37 
79 



435 
21 



456 



Percent- 



15 
9 

36 

14 
8 

18 



The precise nature of the physical disability from which the 
boys suffered is a matter of great interest. Further information 
furnished by the records showed that the largest number, 158, 
or 35 per cent, out of 456 boys examined, were said to be either 
undernourished or lacking in vitality, or both undernourished 
and lacking in vitality.^ The other children with physical 
defects suffered chiefly from bad tonsils and adenoids, defective 
vision, defective hearing, bad teeth, or, in a considerable num- 
ber of cases, from a combination of these defects. 

Obviously, then, a study of the Parental School boys shows 
that in their cases physical defects had not been discovered 

' The following list covers the specific defects enumerated. This list 
shows only 85 children "lacking vitality," "undernourished," etc., but in 



MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DEFECTS 185 

before they were brought into court, and that they represent 
numbers of children who escape the notice of the school doctor, 
or are not treated by the doctor, perhaps because their absence 
from school is not promptly followed up. 

For example, a boy who was one of nine children and in the 
sixth grade was brought into court when thirteen, charged with 
violation of rules and misconduct on the street. He was found 
to be suffering from adenoids and enlarged tonsils and from 
partial deafness due to scarlet fever in infancy. He was also 
undernourished, as he had been getting his own meals at home. 
The boy's mother had supported the family by working away 
from home because the father was a worthless drunkard. The 
fact that the father had always been very abusive at home and 
was at one time arrested for beating and ill-treating his children 
is also significant. In this case the boy improved greatly 
during the four months that he spent at the Parental School, 
and was at work and " doing well" when visited by the investi- 
gator. 

In many cases mental deficiency seems to be connected with 
truancy. For example, an Italian boy who was brought into 
court and committed to the Parental School at the age of 
thirteen seemed to be mentally deficient. For three years he 

73 other cases this condition was combined with some specific defect. In 
the list given, the more general statements regarding physical condition 
are given only in the absence of specific defects. 

Adenoids or bad tonsils or both 80 

Poor vision (31), or defective hearing (5), or bad 

teeth (22) 58 

Poor vision, hearing, or teeth combined, or com- 
bined with adenoids or tonsils 38 

Lacking vitality, undernourished, or both 85 

General physical condition bad 64 

General physical condition fair 67 

General physical condition good 64 

Total number of boys examined 456 



1 86 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

remained in the first grade of the public school, for two years 
in the second, and was promoted to the third only on account 
of his age and his size. Finally he was put in the subnormal 
room. He was not vicious, but was a constant source of annoy- 
ance. He interfered with the children about him, puUing their 
hair and pushing their things on to the floor. When reproved, 
he sat perfectly still "like a mule," the investigator was told. 
The only thing that he enjoyed was going about with his father, 
who was a peddler, and then describing all the things he had 
seen. When he stayed away from school he was believed to 
go with his father. He was very fat and overdeveloped, but 
his sight, speech, and hearing were perfect. During the 
year that he was twelve years old he was absent fifty times. 
When he was thirteen, he ran away from the subnormal 
room, was brought into court, and sent to the Chicago 
Parental School, where he remained for six months, until he 
was fourteen. 

A somewhat similar case was that of a Polish boy who had 
been brought into court "off the streets" — aged thirteen and 
unable to read — and sent to the Parental School. Upon investi- 
gation it appeared that he had been in school for two and one- 
half months that year, but had been absent twenty-seven days 
during that time. The home, which was visited, was in charge 
of a sister, as the mother had been a paralyzed invalid for more 
than ten years. The father, a cement-layer, and the sister 
both said that the boy was "no good." They said that he had 
always been an abnormally bashful boy and was afraid to speak 
out loud for fear children would laugh at him. He had never 
been able to learn to read or to write. The father said that 
he hoped that the investigator had come to put the boy in some 
institution since he did not feel able to care for him. He has 
been in court twice as delinquent since leaving the Parental 
School: once for steaHng old iron from the railroad, and 
once for "bumming" with a gang, one of whom carried 



MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DEFECTS 187 

a loaded revolver. The boy, according to the father, 
"does not want to work, and no one would have him if 
he did." 

There were also several cases of "repeaters," i.e., boys who 
were sent back to the Parental School for violation of parole, 
who seemed to be mentally defective boys. An Italian boy 
was described as "stupid, ill-tempered, and lazy." He "loved 
the streets" and used frequently to lie to his mother, telling 
her that there was no school or that the teacher had gone away. 
When twelve years old, he was still in the third grade of the 
public school. He was brought into court as a truant and a 
schoolroom incorrigible, and was committed to the Parental 
School. After eight months he was paroled, but violated his 
parole, and was returned within seven months. This time he 
remained three months, and was finally discharged because he 
had reached the age limit. In the year since his release he has 
held four different jobs as messenger boy, 

A somewhat similar case was that of a Russian boy who 
was one of nine children. The family of eleven lived in a very 
crowded four-room apartment. The mother was untidy and 
shiftless, and the whole family nervous and excitable. This 
boy was brought into court when only nine years old for habitual 
truancy and violation of the rules. He rode about on wagons 
instead of coming to school; he fought his parents, and became 
hysterical when they attempted to control him. The mother 
said that it made him so nervous to climb the many stairs 
at the school that she was glad to have him sent away. 
He was committed to the Parental School, where he stayed 
five months. He has twice been released on parole, and twice 
returned. 

A visiting teacher or social worker connected with the school, 
who could follow up the cases of absence like these, endeavor 
to find the right kind of treatment for the children, and persuade 
the parents to allow the necessary treatment, would greatly 



1 88 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

add to the efficiency of the mental or physical examination and 
perhaps stimulate the school system to make better provision 
for the subnormal child. ^ 

' In her report for 1913-14, p. 370, Mrs. Ella Flagg Young, super- 
intendent, recommended among other things an increase in the number of 
subnormal rooms. "It is readily seen," her report says, "that forty-six 
rooms is not a sufficient number to provide for this class of pupils. We 
therefore urge that the number of divisions be materially increased." 



CHAPTER XIII 

TRUANCY IN RELATION TO DEPENDENCY AND 
DELINQUENCY 

The preceding chapters have made it clear that the pubhc 
school in the great American city of today touches every social 
problem — the non-supporting father, the tubercular mother, the 
degraded home, and all the harrassing difficulties that poverty 
brings into crowded houses in crowded city neighborhoods. 
Wherever conditions are unfavorable to child life, the schools 
suffer from non-attendance, truancy, and the violation of school 
rules, which come with the presence in school of children from 
extremely poor, undisciplined, or neglected homes. Large 
numbers of children in the poorer districts of the city are in need 
of medical attention, are insufficiently clad, and are improperly 
fed or underfed; and many of these will be troublesome in 
school. Many others suffer from various physical discomforts 
and find the prospect of drifting idly and listlessly about the 
streets and alleys, instead of being subjected to the discipline 
of school, a temptation impossible to resist. A study of the 
homes from which the Parental School boys come makes it 
clear that the conditions which are producing these truant and 
incorrigible boys are conditions which also make for dependency 
and delinquency. 

The fact that truancy, dependency, and delinquency are 
the common results of such home conditions as have been 
described is suggested by the number of truant boys who, 
before being brought into court as truants, have already been 
in institutions for delinquent or dependent children. For 
example, as Table XXV shows, of the 473 boys brought into 

189 



I90 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

court by the Department of Compulsory Education in a single 
year, 54 had been in court at an earlier date as dependent and 
112 had been before the court as delinquent. Some of these 
cases were "continued" in order that a "truant" petition 
might be filed, because the boys were not seriously enough 
delinquent to make it wise to commit them to a delinquent 
institution or because there was no dependent institution to 

TABLE XXV 

NtTMBER OF Truant Boys Beotjght into Court dur- 
ing A Single Year with Previous Records of 
Dependency or Delinquency, Together with 
Disposition on First Charge* 



Disposition 


Dependent 


Delinquent 


Commitment: 

St. Mary's (Feehanville) 

Glenwood 


23 

7 

2 






Other institutions for depend- 
ents 




John Worthy School 


i^ 


St. Charles 




2 


Paroled 


14 
3 

2 

3 


52 


Continued 


^0 


Dismissed 


? 


No record of disposition 


3 


Total 


54 


112 







*The data are for the year ending June 30, 1910, the only year 
for which data were collected. 



which they could well be sent. In such cases the decision of 
the court always turns upon the best opportunity for giving the 
child proper treatment, without regard to the technical charge 
against him. The common expression used in the court record 
of such delinquent or dependent cases was: "The boy was 
found to have been very irregular in attendance at school, and 
his case was continued for a truant petition." 



TRUANCY, DEPENDENCY, DELINQUENCY 191 

It will be recalled that the Parental School was not opened 
until January, 1902, two and one-haK years after the estab- 
Hshment of the Juvenile Court. Until the Parental School was 
opened there was no special institutional provision for truants; 
and truant boys were therefore brought into court as deHn- 
quent, or in one or two instances as dependent, but no child 
was "found truant" by the court until a place of commitment 
had been opened. During the year 1899-1900, 57 boys charged 
with truancy were brought into court as deHnquent; in 1900- 
1901, 33 delinquent boys and one dependent boy were charged 
either with truancy or incorrigibility in the schoolroom; and 
between July i, 1901, and the opening of the Parental School 
in January, 1902, 10 dehnquent boys were charged with truancy. 
The majority of these boys were paroled or committed to the 
John Worthy School, an institution for deHnquent boys, but 
a few were sent to institutions for dependent children. During 
the first few years after the founding of the Parental School 
truant boys were still brought into court on dependent or dehn- 
quent petitions, but charged with the specific offense of 
"truancy." 

In fact, if we accept the definition of a "dependent" child 
as it is found in the juvenile court law, it is clear that many of 
the truant boys might be correctly termed dependent. In the 
words of this statute, "dependent" and "neglected" are used 
synonymously, and a dependent or neglected child is "a child 
without proper parental care or guardianship, or a child who has 
a home which by reason of neglect, cruelty, or depravity, on 
the part of its parents, guardian, or any other person in whose 
care it may be, is an unfit place for such a child." The tables 
appearing in chap, x relating to the truant boys who have been 
committed show how frequently such conditions are found in the 
homes of the boys who are sent to the Parental School as truants. 
Occasionally it happens that a boy is transferred directly from 
the Parental School to some dependent or delinquent institution, 



192 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

or that truant boys who are on parole are sent to some other 
institution upon violation of their paroles instead of being 
returned to the Parental School. 

The inter-relation of truancy, delinquency, and dependency 
is seen in those cases in which conditions in the home have made 
the development of right* conduct on the part of the children 
extremely difficult. In the case, for example, of one boy who 
was brought into court at the age of eleven, charged with 
truancy and violation of the rules and sent to the Parental 
School, the records showed that he had been brought to court 
when he was only three years old on a dependent charge. Con- 
ditions in the home were terrible: there were nine children; 
the father had deserted the family more than once; the older 
brothers were "loafers"; an older sister had been sent to an 
institution for delinquent girls; the home was filthy, and the 
whole family drank and fought among themselves. The mother 
was described by one school principal as a "terrible woman 
who was known to have used a knife on someone who visited 
the family." Less than two years after the boy had been 
brought to court for truancy, he was brought in as delinquent 
on the charge of stealing, and only a year later he was in court 
again on the same charge. At the time this inquiry was made 
the boy was doing fairly well at school, was in the fifth grade 
and attending school regularly; but there is very slight chance 
of a good life for a boy who is left in such a home. 

In another family from which two boys were sent to the 
Parental School, both parents were hard drinkers and were 
cruel to their children. Later the mother died; the father, a 
cripple, deserted, and the home was broken up. The youngest 
boy was brought into court when he was twelve years old and 
in the second grade, and was sent to the Parental School. 
Before this time he had been in court twice as a dependent, had 
been sent twice to the County Hospital for treatment, and was 
once committed to an institution for dependent children. 



TRUANCY, DEPENDENCY, DELINQUENCY 193 

After nine months at the Parental School, it was thought best 
to transfer him to the school for the feeble-minded, so he 
escaped delinquency by being committed to that institution. 

In another case a boy of thirteen who was supposedly attend- 
ing the third grade in school was brought to court for persistent 
truancy and sent to the Parental School. The boy's early his- 
tory threw a great deal of light on his conduct. He was the 
youngest of six children. The mother died when he was very 
small; and the father, an inefficient workman, earned very low 
wages, drank heavily, and took no care of the children. The 
youngest boy was first brought into court when he was ten years 
old as a dependent child without proper home care, and was 
sent to an institution for dependent children. Two years later 
he was brought into court as a delinquent and paroled; but 
within a few months he was brought in again as a dependent 
and placed under the care of a probation officer. By this time 
he was thirteen and he was soon sent to the Parental School. 
Not long after being paroled from the Parental School he was 
brought in again as delinquent for stealing coal from the tracks 
and money from stores, and was sent to an institution for 
delinquent boys, where he was at the time of our inquiry. 

One boy who had been committed to a dependent insti- 
tution three years before he was sent to the Parental School had 
a younger brother who was for several years in an institution 
for dependent children. The father died of tuberculosis, and 
the mother drank and was immoral. The family lived for some 
time in one room, very dirty and poorly furnished, in a very 
dirty rear tenement. At the age of thirteen the older boy was 
brought to court by the Department of Compulsory Education 
and sent to the Parental School. He had reached the fourth 
grade in school, his deportment was good, and he was doing 
fairly well with his studies, but he was staying away from 
school — a dangerous practice in demoralizing surroundings. 
He was kept in the Parental School only three months; but 



194 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

after he was paroled, conditions at home were so bad that there 
was no chance of improvement and a few weeks later he was 
returned to the Parental School for violation of his parole and 
was kept there until he was fourteen. Six months after his 
release, he was brought into court for refusing to work and for 
not staying at home. The case was continued, but two months 
later when he was charged with forging a check for $5 he was sent 
to the John Worthy School, where he stayed for seven months. 
It is interesting to note that although the mother attributes 
the boy's delinquency to the fact that she had to work and could 
not watch him, the truant officer states emphatically that the 
boy had no chance with an immoral, drinking mother and a 
degraded home. 

In a large number of other cases in which the child escaped 
being brought into court as dependent, he came from a miserable 
and degraded home, where he was neglected in many ways. 
One of the first evidences of this neglect was his irregularity or 
bad conduct at school. But the appearance in court for truancy 
is followed later by dependency or delinquency. 

For example, John was brought into court both for 

truancy and violation of school rules at the age of eleven, when 
he was in the second grade at school. The boy was the fifth child 
in a family of seven children, of whom the eldest was twenty, 
the youngest four. The father was a carpenter and belonged to 
the union, but was a drunken loafer and gambler who could 
not support his family. He was always out of a job, sent his 
little girls to saloons for whiskey, beat his wife and abused her 
so that she said she "would rather be beaten than hear him 
talk to her." He had deserted more than once and had been 
several times before the court for non-support. A brother 
older than John, who had been at the Chicago Parental School, 
was like the father: he loafed, smoked, and ill-treated his 
mother. He was known in the neighborhood as "a little 
tough." Various social agencies were interested in the family; 



TRUANCY, DEPENDENCY, DELINQUENCY 195 

and the younger boy, who was always Hked by the teacher and 
the pupils but who had a bad temper and was led by his older 
brothers, was finally sent to the Chicago Parental School to 
get him away from home conditions. The mother was inter- 
viewed at a store where she was working. She was interested 
in the children and wished something could be done to make 
the fifteen-year-old boy go to school. Although, when inter- 
viewed, she had a separate maintenance, she was much con- 
cerned about getting rid of her "old man," and she said she 
wished she "could kill him off." 

Equally dependent were two brothers sent to the Parental 
School because of truancy, due to neglect in the home: John 

and Joseph A , two illiterate Polish boys, were brought 

into court at the age of thirteen and eleven respectively. The 
court record showed that the boys had been extremely irregular 
in attendance and that John, the elder, who was in the second 
grade, had attended school only occasionally during the pre- 
vious year. Joseph, the younger, who was in the first grade, 
had been absent oftener than he had been present. The princi- 
pal's report said that the father drank and that the mother was 
insane, although she had not been removed from the home. 
When the family was visited, the mother and two boys were 
found at home quarreling. The home was a very dirty, rear 
tenement, reached through a long and narrow passageway 
between the buildings. The neighborhood was dismal, dirty, 
partly unpaved, deserted, and there was a stone-cutting estab- 
Ushment near with yards covering several blocks. The woman, 
who was scolding the children because there was no food, or 
wood, or coal, cried and put her hands on the cold stove. Both 
boys made fun of her, saying "the old woman hadn't any 
sense." The older boy could write nothing except his name; 
the younger then in a parochial school would not tell the grade. 
Both the boys and the mother were cases for institutional care. 
The father drank and neglected them all. 



196 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

There are many cases of boys who have "brought them- 
selves up," as one deserted mother expressed it. A httle 
ItaKan boy, whose mother was dead and father deserted, was 
supported by an older brother who earned enough to pay their 
board with an aunt. She had nine children of her own to look 
after and said she really had not the time to see that this boy 
went to school, for getting him to school had come to mean 
' ' chasing him off the streets and away from the alleys. ' ' Another 
motherless truant boy had a father with a criminal record who 
had deserted his children, an older sister who was leading an 
immoral life, and an older brother who had been in the State 
Reform School at Pontiac, but who was the sole guardian and 
support of his little brother. When the boy was eleven years 
old he was brought in on a truancy charge and sent to the 
Parental School, where he was kept for nine months. His 
school reports showed an improvement after his return, and 
his brother said that, although he was "wild and crazy" before 
going, he came back steadied and much improved physically. 
The brothers later lived in a rooming-house in the heart of the 
vice district and worked as teamsters in a coal yard directly 
back of a saloon. The woman in charge of the rooming-house 
drank, but the boys seemed to have escaped contamination. 
In the case of another boy the father was thoroughly worthless 
and made the mother go out to work; the mother finally got 
a divorce and married again, but the step-father was no better, 
and the mother was obliged to go out washing much of the time. 
This boy spent a year and a half in an orphan asylum at one 
time, but was attending the public school when he was brought 
into court and sent to the Parental School. He was then ten 
years old and in the third grade at school, and was described 
as "dirty, dull, and ill-tempered," although apparently in good 
physical condition. 

Another boy, who was brought to court as a truant and 
schoohoom incorrigible, was the youngest of eight children with 



TRUANCY, DEPENDENCY, DELINQUENCY 197 

a mother who drank heavily and who had led all the seven older 
children into bad habits. This boy was said not to be " adapted 
for school work," but after five months at the Parental School he 
returned, not to his own degraded home, but to a kind and com- 
petent aunt who was able to provide for him and to protect him. 

The dependent cases that have been given are some of them 
also cases in which the boy became delinquent. Many similar 
cases might be discussed, but it seems scarcely necessary to 
illustrate so obvious a fact as the close connection between 
delinquency and truancy when truancy is the direct outcome of 
a bad home or of neighborhood conditions. The undisciplined 
and undirected boy who plays truant to go to nickel shows and 
who "chases the streets" soon gets in with the gang that lies 
in wait like Satan himself in districts where children are so 
numerous and means of recreation so limited; the loafing on 
the streets leads to genuine marauding expeditions, and the boy 
is soon in court again and is technically no longer truant but 
has become delinquent. 

In the case of an Italian boy, one of six children, most of 
whom were born in Italy, the father was a laborer, frequently 
out of work, and the mother a "pants finisher" who worked 
very hard to earn enough for food. The family lived in three 
very dirty rooms in a miserably dilapidated rear tenement with 
steep dark stairways. The street on which they lived was near 
the river; the houses were tumble-down, and there were in the 
neighborhood many saloons and cheap places of amusement. 
This boy got in with some bad boys when he was very small, 
and was brought to court as dehnquent when he was only seven. 
His parents were unable to get him away from bad company 
although they said that they punished him most severely! 
When he was thirteen years old and in the fourth grade in the 
pubHc school, he was finally brought to court as an habitual 
truant and sent to the Parental School. He was there five 
months, and the mother thought him greatly improved; but 



198 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

he was soon in court again, this time for steahng, and was sent 
to the John Worthy School. 

An interesting case is that of a boy who was a younger child 
in a family of seven children whose father was dead and whose 
mother was immoral. The family lived in a rear basement 
apartment, dark, dirty, and poorly furnished, in a poor neigh- 
borhood near the railroad tracks. The children were greatly 
neglected, and one of the sisters was sent to an institution for 
dehnquent girls. This boy was first brought into court when 
he was twelve years old, charged with stealing junk from stores. 
He was also attending school very irregularly, and a few months 
later he was brought into court again as an habitual truant and 
sent to the Parental School, where he remained fourteen months. 
The boy enjoyed the military drill and liked the school so much 
that he asked to be sent back after he left. Soon after he was 
fourteen and too old to go back to the Parental School, he was 
brought into court as delinquent, charged with incorrigibility 
and running away from home, and was sent to the John Worthy 
School. He was one of a large number of boys from poor and 
neglected homes who have their first experience of a disci- 
phned, well-ordered life in the Parental School, and many of 
them respond to its influence as this boy did, and would like 
to stay. 

In one home which had been visited by the truant officer 
ten times within two years, the boy who was truant was the 
youngest of five children and seemed always to have been in 
poor physical condition. The home was very poor, the father 
a day laborer, frequently out of work, and the mother dead. 
The boy had no home care or training. He was said by the 
principal to be one of the "worst types of confirmed truants 
drifting into crime." When he was brought in off the streets, 
he stayed only until recess. When he was eleven years old 
and in the third grade of the pubhc school, he was brought into 
court as an habitual truant and sent to the Parental School. 



TRUANCY, DEPENDENCY, DELINQUENCY 199 

After he had been there five months, he was sent home on 
parole, but was returned a month later and was kept four 
months longer. His older sister, who is a very indifferent 
guardian, said that the boy "was better" for a month after his 
return, but soon got in trouble again, was brought into court 
as dehnquent, and was later sent to the John Worthy School. 

In one family from which two boys were brought into court, 
the father, a brutal, immoral man, deserted the family and went 
off with a disreputable woman. The mother, who had obtained 
a divorce from her husband, did scrubbing and washing away 
from home. She was devoted to the two sons, but weak, over- 
indulgent, and unable to control them; she used to try to bribe 
the boys to go to school, but they took her money and played 
truant. The older boy has been in Glen wood as a dependent, 
in the John Worthy School as a dehnquent, and was afterward 
returned to court on a delinquent charge. When the younger 
boy was eleven years old and only in the third grade at school, 
he was brought into court for habitual truancy; he was said 
to be a cigarette fiend, congenitally defective, and morally 
weak. The case was continued, and four months later he was 
committed to the Chicago Parental School. He was later 
transferred to an institution for dependent boys. 

This series of illustrative cases might be almost indefinitely 
prolonged. A sufiicient number of examples has, however, 
been given to emphasize the fact that conditions in the home 
that lead to neglect of the children, whether the causes of neg- 
lect be immorality, drunkenness, incompetence, ignorance, or 
extreme poverty, are likely to lead to interference by the state 
with parental authority. Whether the child is declared truant, 
dependent, or delinquent is largely a matter of accident. In 
any event, the child becomes the ward of the state, and parental 
control over the child is supplemented or superseded as the 
child's needs may dictate. 



CHAPTER XIV 

ENFORCEMENT OF THE COMPULSORY EDUCATION LAW IN 
THE MUNICIPAL COURT OF CHICAGO 

It has been pointed out in earlier chapters that the com- 
pulsory school law has laid on the parent or guardian of any 
child within certain prescribed ages the duty of securing the 
child's attendance at school; upon the educational authorities 
has been laid the duty of making effective and vigilant use of 
the power to prosecute those parents who refuse to comply with 
the requirements. 

The necessity for such drastic treatment arises under several 
different sets of conditions. It should be noted that to assure 
to all children seven or nine years of schooling is to set a mini- 
mum standard of care and education which lays a heavy burden 
upon families that are poor. A sympathetic understanding of 
this fact should be shared by all school authorities and judges 
whose duty it becomes to enforce the law. The poorest parents 
are often those who are most solicitous for the welfare of their 
children, but so beset and burdened are they with the hard 
struggle for life that they see no way of providing for the younger 
children except to sacrifice the older ones. 

The difficulty is of course greatly enhanced when ignorance 
or indifference is added to poverty. This is found in many 
instances where the parents have had no reason to appreciate 
the importance of the child's schooling. Coming, as so many 
of them do, from the rural districts of our own or of other 
countries, they have had no experience that will interpret to 
them the changed demand of the modern industrial community 
on the child. They, hke their fathers and their forefathers, 
have expected their children to work hard about the house or 



COMPULSORY LAW IN THE MUNICIPAL COURT 201 

farm during childhood and to begin wage-earning life at a very 
early age, and many of them feel wronged if they are prevented 
from calling upon their children at an early age to share the 
burdens of family support. It is, therefore, unreasonable to 
expect parents to yield at once and without objection to the 
requirements of the compulsory school law. On this account 
every opportunity must be used to make known to them their 
duty under the law, to help them understand the reason for 
laying the duty upon them, and, where possible, to secure their 
sympathy and co-operation. The very great difference between 
the number of parents on whom warning notices must be served, 
and of those for whom prosecution is found necessary, is an indi- 
cation of the readiness with which most parents are willing to 
observe the law when they understand it. Whatever the 
deficiencies in the system at the present time, however, and what- 
ever the hardships to the parent, the demand of the state is 
an inexorable one, and stringent enforcement of the statute 
should be the rule. The state should, in fact, be relentless in 
demanding that the child's future must not be jeopardized. 

When the family is not only poor and unintelligent but 
irregular in its habits, when there is drunkenness or any other 
demoralizing influence at work in the home, severer treatment 
than commitment to the Parental School will be found neces- 
sary in order to secure for the child that minimum of education 
which the state has said he must have. In such cases, after 
being duly warned, the parent himself becomes the object of 
prosecution. In 1913-14, for example, it was found necessary 
to prosecute 67 parents who had with 1,169 others been duly 
warned, but, unhke the others, had failed to heed the warning. 
Table XXVI shows the number of warning notices served and 
of prosecutions carried through by the Department of Com- 
pulsory Education from 1900 to 19 14. 

It is interesting to note the great increase in the number of 
prosecutions and of warning notices for three years after 1903, 



202 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



when the law was amended. For the next year there was 
a marked drop in both warnings and prosecutions, and, although 
the law was again radically amended in 1907, there was no strik- 
ing change as a result. It is, in fact, impossible to discover from 
these figures evidence of any policy directing the use either of 

TABLE XXVI 

Number of Warning Notices and 
Prosecutions, 1900-1914 



Year Ending June 30 


Warning Notices 


Prosecutions* 


1900 

IQOI 


12 

t 
t 
479 
1,060 
4,283 
2,820 
2,219 
1,646 
1,437 
1,713 
1,884 
1,533 
1,611 
1,236 


31 
17 
169 
204 
307 
451 
702 
120 


1902 

1903 

1904 

iQO'; '. 


1906 


IQ07 


1908 


178 


IQOO 


108 


IQIO 


138 
105 
118 


IQII 


I9I2 


lOI? 


129 
67 


IOI4 






Total 


21,933 


2,844 







* Up to the year 1903-4 these figures seem to include 
prosecutions of boys in the Juvenile Court, 
t Figures not given in published reports. 

warning notices or of prosecutions. The superintendent 
explains the decrease in 19 14 as compared with 19 13 as evi- 
dencing "public respect for the enforced law on school attend- 
ance and the knowledge that truant officers' warnings must be 
heeded."' Such a sudden access of public respect for the law 
would be more easily understood if the figures for the four pre- 

' Sixtieth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago (1913-14), 
p. 407, "Report of the Superintendent of Compulsory Education." 



COMPULSORY LAW IN THE MUNICIPAL COURT 203 

ceding years had indicated that such a respect was growing 
and might suddenly expand, but the figures go up and then 
down in a way that cannot be easily or satisfactorily ac- 
counted for. Unfortunately, the results of the prosecutions 
are not known. No figures are published in the annual reports 
of the Board of Education to show what disposition was made 
of their cases. It is, therefore, impossible to tell how many 
parents were fined, or how many were imprisoned or discharged. 
No conclusions can be drawn therefore as to what had or what 
had not proved to be effective treatment of such cases. 

Attention has been called above to the lack of other ma- 
chinery for interpreting the attitude of the community effect- 
ively to the parent. Prosecution followed by a fine is a harsh 
method of interpretation, but it is one whose message can hardly 
be misunderstood. The imposition of a fine results in the 
placing of a money estimate upon the child's attendance. This 
at least every parent can understand; and if anyone has been 
tempted to allow his child to leave school for the sake of the 
child's earnings, he can measure the relative advantage of 
school attendance without wages and of absence with the risk 
of being fined. Moreover, as many of these parents are very 
poor, the fine is sometimes not paid, but is "laid out" in the 
bridewell or the county jail at the rate of fifty cents a day. 
This means the forfeiture of the man's wages, as well as deten- 
tion and separation from his family. Not only the family, but 
the entire neighborhood is thus impressed with the concern of 
the state for the education even of the poorest child. 

The prosecutions, as has been said, are, in Chicago, insti- 
tuted in the Municipal Court, and, since April 3, 191 1, in that 
branch of the Municipal Court known as the Court of Domestic 
Relations. The case for the prosecution is presented by a 
representative of the Department of Compulsory Education, 
and testimony is offered by the principal or teacher from the 
school attended by the child. The accused has, of course, 



204 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

a right to trial by jury, but is usually willing to waive jury trial 
and to leave the finding to the judge. The parents are often 
represented by counsel, but the trial is quite informal, and the 
decision really turns upon the question of adequate warning 
and on the honest effort of the parent to secure the child's 
attendance. It is, of course, usually the father who is the 
defendant in these prosecutions. Out of 58 cases brought 
into the Court of Domestic Relations during the period for 
which we have records only 5 were against guardians other 
than the father; 4 of these were against the mother, and i 
against the brother of the child. 

No figures are available showing the results of the prose- 
cutions in the Municipal Court except for a single year, April 3, 
191 1, to March 31, 191 2, the first year of the Court of Domestic 
Relations. During that year 124 persons were brought in and 
74 of them were fined. ^ In the other 50 cases no fine was 
imposed. In some instances where no fine is imposed, the case 
is "continued" for two weeks or a month, so that the parents 
may show whether they can and will undertake to send the 
child to school; and sometimes when the fine is imposed, the 
court will suspend its collection and then under form of dis- 
missal remit the fine because of improved attendance on the 
part of the child. By both of these devices the family is really 
placed on probation. 

It does not appear that any more definite policy character- 
izes the treatment of these cases by the court than their treat- 
ment by the Department of Compulsory Education. As the 
actions which have been taken are not available in published 

' The fine for failing to secure attendance, as has been said, may be 
anything between $5 and $20, with or without costs, which amount gen- 
erally to about $8 . 50. The amount most commonly imposed is Is with- 
out costs. Between July i, 1911, and June 30, 1912, 45 persons were fined. 
Of these, 36 were fined $5 without costs, seven were fined I5 with costs, 
one $10 without, and one $10 with costs. Five "laid out" their fines in 
in the House of Correction, and three in the county jail. 



COMPULSORY LAW IN THE MUNICIPAL COURT 205 

reports, figures were obtained from the records, by which a 
comparison of the treatment of cases during the months April, 
May, and June, 191 1, could be made with the corresponding 
months of the following year, when there had been a change 
in the personnel of the court. Under the earlier administration 
47 out of 71 cases, or 2 out of 3, were fined, while during the 
second period only 2 1 out of the same number, or less than i in 
3, were fined, and the other 50 escaped punishment altogether. 
During the four years following the opening of the court, five 
different judges had general assignments to this court, ^ and 
there was no reason to hope for an agreement among them with 
reference to the seriousness of this particular responsibihty. 
It is, in fact, inevitable that there should be a difference in 
policy on the part of the judges, since the whole question of 
the importance of the child's right to be in school every half- 
day the school is open is still so lightly regarded by many well- 
meaning people in the community. To the judge, the ancient 
parental right to determine for the child must still seem very 
important, and the case for intervention on the part of the com- 
munity would have to be made very clear. Not until the Court 
of Domestic Relations has been thoroughly socialized, and is 
presided over only by men who can and will inform themselves 
with regard to the nature of the pressing social problems with 
which they deal, can the court become an effective instrument 
for social treatment. 

Attention is called in the preceding chapter to the fact that, 
although the parental school law applies to girls as well as to 
boys, no provision has been made at the Parental School for 
girls. It was also pointed out that very few girls have been 
brought into the Juvenile Court as truants — 37 girls out of a 
total of 5,659 children. A very considerable number of parents 
are, however, disciplined in the Municipal Court for allowing 
their daughters to remain out of school. Out of 58 compulsory 

' Beside brief special and vacation assignments. 



2o6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

education cases brought in during the spring of 191 1, 20 were 
cases in which girls had remained out of school, while out of 90 
cases for which the facts were available in 191 2-13, 42, or about 
50 per cent, were cases of girl truants. Attention might be 
called here again to the fact that whereas the truant boy is a 
source of disturbance, attracting notice on the street and more 
or less getting himself into trouble, the non-attending girl 
usually is helping in her father's shop, taking care of the baby, 
caring for her sick mother, or doing some other household task. 
One thirteen-year-old girl, for example, whose father, an Italian, 
had a fruit and cigar store, lost sixty-six days during one school 
year and had been at school only a day and a half prior to 
November 13, of the following year. The mother was sick, 
and the girl was kept out of school to help in the store and about 
the home. Another thirteen-year-old Italian girl, who was 
only in the second grade, had been kept at home because the 
mother "took in" several men boarders; there were three or 
four younger children, and she was needed to help at home. 

When the reasons for keeping the children at home are 
examined, they explain the fact, too, that the girls for whose 
absence parents are brought into the Municipal Court are older 
than the boys. Out of 20 girls whose parents were prosecuted, 
13 were twelve or older, while only 13 out of 38 boys were 
twelve or over. In a considerable number of cases the girl's 
absence means that she is being used at home; the boy's more 
often indicates a family life too irregular and careless to get the 
younger children ready for school, since the older boy is more 
likely to be brought into the Juvenile Court and sent to the 
Parental School. 

As has been said, some of the parents are merely ignorant 
and use their children in household tasks or send them out to 
work unnecessarily ; but there are some homes where the poverty 
is great and the mother goes out to work, so that the child, some- 
times a girl, sometimes a boy, stays at home to take the mother's 



COMPULSORY LAW IN THE MUNICIPAL COURT 207 

place. For example, Helen, who was twelve years old, was 
absent sixty-two half-days between September and February. 
Her father was ill and unable to work. The mother v/ent out 
washing four days a week and kept Helen at home to care for 
the baby. The statement made by the mother in court was, 
that she could make no other arrangement for the baby, and 
"anyway she did not have time to comb the girl's hair and get 
her ready for school." 

There are also families in which the mother is dead and the 
father has failed to make provision for a housekeeper, and the 
children are consequently neglected and forlorn. For example, 

the wife of Mr. H died, leaving three children, a girl who 

did the housework in the morning before going to her job in 
a tobacco factory, a fourteen-year-old boy, and a nine-year-old 
boy, both of whom were irregular in attendance. The older 
boy was mischievous, but the younger was not at all troublesome, 
merely neglected. The father was away all day long, and there 
was no one to look after the boys or to help them as they came 
or went. The mother of another family had died the year 
before, leaving three boys; the oldest did what housekeeping 
there was done, but it is not surprising that all three were 
irregular in their attendance and came to school, when they 
did come, uncombed and neglected. The father told the court 
that he was very strict but that the boys stayed away without 
his knowledge. He expected to be less busy in the future 
and would see that they attended regularly. Evidently such 
families need many services other than those connected with 
prosecution. The thing lacking in this one was a kind woman's 
care, and paying a fine or serving a term in the bridewell will 
hardly secure that. 

There are other cases of a more difficult kind, in which the 
father, or perhaps the mother, drinks, or where the mother is of 
questionable morality; where the home is filthy, and the 
children really neglected. Such a case was that of two PoHsh 



2o8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

boys, thirteen and fourteen years old, neither of whom could 
read or write, and both of whom had been for a long time very 
irregular in school attendance. The mother, who was a widow, 
drank constantly, and a sixteen-year-old girl was the sole 
support of the family. The judge sent the mother to the bride- 
well for thirty days. In such cases, the punishment and disci- 
pline of the parents may perhaps have a wholesome effect. Such 
cases should, however, be followed by further supervision of the 
children. In other words, we find, as we should expect, that 
the families that are brought into court are representatives of 
the lowest groups of homes from which come the non-attending 
children whose absences are studied in other chapters. For 
some of these children this method of treatment seems quite 
inadequate. 

Reference was made in an earlier chapter to the statute 
providing a penalty for such conduct on the part of parents 
or guardians as is likely to contribute to the dependency 
or to the delinquency of children.^ Prosecution under this 
statute is usually an item in a definite plan for the treatment 
of a child who has been held dependent or delinquent, as the 

' "Any parent, legal guardian or person having the custody of a male 
under the age of 17 years or of a female under the age of 18 years, who shall 
knowingly or wilfully cause, aid or encourage such person to be or to become 
a dependent and neglected child .... or .... do acts which directly 
tend to render any such child so dependent and neglected, or who shall 
knowingly or wilfully fail to do that which will directly tend to prevent 
such state of dependency and neglect shall be deemed guilty of the crime 
of contributing to the dependency and neglect of children 

"Any person who shall knowingly or wilfuUy cause, aid or encourage 
any male under the age of seventeen (17) years or any female under the 
age of eighteen (18) years to be or to become a delinquent child .... or 
.... do acts which will directly tend to render any such child so and who 
when able to do so, shall wilfully neglect to do that which will directly tend 
to prevent such state of delinquency shall be deemed guilty of the crime of 
contributing to the delinquency of children." — Laws of Illinois, 1915, 
pp. 368-69. 



COMPULSORY LAW IN THE MUNICIPAL COURT 209 

case may be, by the Juvenile Court. In the same way, the 
prosecution of these "truant" parents may be required in 
the interest of the child, and where necessary should be resorted 
to vigorously. But this, too, should be an item in a program of 
treatment for the child which would include all those devices 
intended for the rehabilitation of the home as well as this 
special device for disciplining the parent. Unconscious recogni- 
tion of this need is shown in occasional cases in which the 
Department of Compulsory Education uses the court for 
exactly this purpose and attempts to secure through punish- 
ment for non-attendance such disciphne as will result in the 
better care of the children and remove the causes of non- 
attendance. In one home, for example, the mother was ill, 
the children neglected and filthy, and their attendance irregular. 
Evidently, the whole household had to be raised to a cleaner 
and better standard, and the judge, while he imposed a fine on 
the father, also directed that a probation officer be called upon 
to aid in the supervision of the family fife. 

Cases of this character suggest, again, interesting questions 
of method and jurisdiction. The school should, of course, and 
when adequately equipped will, perform for all children of 
compulsory school age the service of discovering conditions 
hostile to their well-being. Through the school nurse and the 
medical inspector, serious conditions of neglect will be revealed. 
The discovery is, however, of little value unless followed by 
adequate treatment of those conditions. Moreover, in many 
cases, the conditions may be below any possible "minimum of 
child care" and may yet not manifest themselves in ways dis- 
coverable by the physician. For such cases there is needed 
the trained eye of the person skilled in the care of children and 
famihar with other symptoms of neglect. And, in fact, in all 
cases, the care of the person skilled in the art of helping families 
to lift themselves out of the mire of irregular, shiftless, or disso- 
lute living is absolutely essential. Resort to discipline and 



2IO TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

compulsion must sometimes be necessary, and there should be 
fairly definite standards of cleanhness and regularity below 
which no family should be allowed to remain. If the final 
action in such cases could be to leave the family under sym- 
pathetic probationary care, such action might more frequently 
secure for the children that measure of nurture described by 
the Juvenile Court law as "proper parental care." 



CHAPTER XV 

THE SCHOOL CENSUS AS A MEANS OF ENFORCING THE 
ATTENDANCE LAW 

In a recent report on Compulsory School Attendance, by the 
United States Bureau of Education, attention is called to the 
use of the school census as a means of enforcing the school 
attendance provisions of the various school laws. According 
to the report: 

To secure the enrolment of pupils, several factors are necessary, 
the most important of which is a complete census of all children of 

compulsory school age That an annual census is necessary 

to secure enrolment is obvious. Every year children move from one 
district to another, and others have reached the compulsory age 
. . . . ; many immigrant children may have arrived who would not 
be discovered by the truant officer without a census list. If a school 
census has been taken, the teachers of the public, private and parochial 
schools can promptly check off those not enrolled during the first few 
weeks of the school term. The truant officers can then easily locate 
them and secure their attendance.^ 

Unfortunately, however, IlHnois is one of those states in 
which the statute makes no provision for the taking of a school 
census as a means of enforcing the school attendance require- 
ment. The purpose of the school census, in Illinois as in many 
other states where a census is required, is to secure the enumera- 
tion of the minor population as a basis for the distribution of 
the state or county school fund. It may, indeed, be said that 
the Illinois statute provides only indirectly for a school census. 

' U.S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 2, Compulsory School 
Attendance, by W. S. Deffenbaugh, Anna Tolman Smith, W. Carson Ryan, 
Jr., and William H. Hand. Washington, 1914. See especially pp. 12-14. 



212 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Thus the IlHnois school law declares that the common school 
fund of the state is to be distributed among the various counties 
''in proportion to the number of persons in each county under 
the age of twenty-one years as ascertained from the next pre- 
ceding state or federal census." The distribution within the 
county, however, is made on the basis of a local enumeration.^ 
The various school districts, therefore, find it necessary to take 
a school census, that is, a census of minor population, as a basis 
for claiming a proper share of the common school fund within 
the county. An additional reason for an enumeration is that 
the statistical material necessary for the reports of the state 
superintendent of pubUc instruction can be obtained only in 
this way. The state superintendent is required by statute to 
report to the governor before each regular session of the legis- 
lature (i.e., biennially) concerning the ''condition of the schools 
in the several counties of the state .... the number of 
persons in each county under twenty-one years of age and the 
number of persons between the ages of twelve and twenty-one 
unable to read and write," together with various other items 
of information. 

The Chicago school census seems to be taken biennially 
because, although an annual enumeration would perhaps result 
in Chicago's securing a larger share of the fund assigned to 
Cook County since the school population is probably increasing 

' See Revised Statutes, chap. 122, sec. 215: "The county superintendent 
of schools shall apportion and distribute, under rules and regulations pre- 
scribed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the principal of the 
county fund to the townships and parts of townships in his county, accord- 
ing to the number of persons under twenty-one years of age returned to 
him. The principal of the county fund so distributed shall be added to 
the principal of the township fund of the townships and parts of townships 
in his county. The interests, rents, issues, and profits arising and accruing 
from the principal of the county fund shall be distributed to the town- 
ships and parts of townships in his county, as required by the provisions 
of this Act." 



THE SCHOOL CENSUS 213 

with greater rapidity in Chicago than in other parts of the 
county, the Board of Education has decided that the expense 
of taking the census is so great that it is better to do without 
the increased share of the fund than to bear the cost of an annual 
enumeration, and the taking of a biennial census meets the 
requirement of the state law regarding the statistics to be sent 
to the state superintendent of public instruction for his biennial 
report. 

The Illinois law thus represents a view of the school census 
that is now coming to be regarded as obsolete. It is no longer 
believed that there should be a school census merely to secure 
an equitable distribution of school funds or to furnish crude 
statistics to a state superintendent who has little, if any, power 
to prevent the unsatisfactory conditions that might be revealed 
by the statistics. On the contrary, the school census is regarded 
as a most important means of securing the thorough enforce- 
ment of a compulsory attendance statute. In a chapter deal- 
ing with the subject of compulsory attendance in the annual 
report for 1912, the New York State Department of Education 
emphasized the importance of a school census: 

Our annual school census at present forms the basis of the 
enforcement of child labor and attendance laws, and serves this end 
only; yet the purpose sought is so important and far reaching as to 
make the taking of the census one of the most important duties 
devolving upon school authorities, because a thorough enforcement 
of these laws is necessarily dependent upon accurate and reliable 
census information. However, we are not proud of the care and 
interest manifested on the part of the authorities in taking school 
censuses. ReUable census information is more often than otherwise 
lacking in cities and villages and even in rural communities and ham- 
lets where the census may be taken easUy and with small expense. 
All this is true, notwithstanding the fact that the law specifically 
provides for the taking of the census and the filing of a copy of same 
in school records available for the use of teachers, attendance officers, 
inspectors and all others having a right to such information. 



214 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

A similar passage from the 1910 report of the Massachusetts 
Board of Education confirms the view of the school census 
found in the New York report: 

In more populous centers school attendance officers are greatly 
handicapped by the absence of reliable information regarding the 
children on whom school attendance is obligatory. An annual census 
is required in the towns and cities of Massachusetts, but this census 
is not taken in such a way as to furnish information which attendance 
officers can use. Students of school administration are agreed that 
in more populous areas some form of permanent registration of all 
children who come under the school attendance laws [and it is to be 
remembered, that in some cases this extends to the age of eighteen in 
Massachusetts] should be provided. In connection with the taking 
of the annual school census it would be possible to provide a card 
record giving age, parentage and other data of importance, which 
card record could after comparison with the registration of the 
school, become the basis on which attendance officers could investi- 
gate illegal absence. 

The suggestion made in the foregoing paragraphs that, to 
be thoroughly effective as a means of enforcing the compul- 
sory law, the old-fashioned annual or biennial school census 
must be superseded by a permanent census department has 
already been adopted for the larger cities in the state of New 
York. The modern view is that registration instead of enumer- 
ation is needed if the desired results are to be secured. In 1909 
the bill creating a permanent census bureau in every city of the 
first class passed the New York state legislature, and although 
the machinery for the registration system is still in process of 
being perfected, the immense service that could be rendered 
by such a permanent census system was promptly demonstrated.' 

'In 1 9 14 by an amendment to the Greater New York charter some 
radical changes were made in the organization of the permanent census 
board in New York City, and the present Bureau of Compulsory Education, 
School Census and Child Welfare was made possible. Further experi- 
mentation will undoubtedly be needed before the permanent census system 
is perfected, but that such experimentation will result in a vastly improved 



THE SCHOOL CENSUS 215 

How far Illinois has lagged behind in this matter is indicated 
by the fact that the city of Chicago does not have even an 
annual census, and that the biennial census is taken in the 
spring at a time when httle service can be rendered by returning 
children to school. In the year 19 10 the taking of the school 
census was turned over to the Department of Compulsory 
Education, and the following discussion of the Chicago school 

school attendance cannot be doubted. In fact, within two years after the 
passage of the permanent census law of 1909, the Department of Education 
of the state of New York called attention to the substantial results that had 
already been accomplished. Thus the annual report for 191 1 states that 
the permanent census bureaus were "still in a tentative condition, though 
much progress has been made toward perfecting their organization. The 
work, however, has apparently progressed slowly because the lines upon 
which the bureaus are being organized and operated are entirely and neces- 
sarily new. Such a bureau had never before been established in any Ameri- 
can city and, therefore, the setting up of the bureau machinery called for 
initiative, sound judgment, special aptitude and ability on the part of 

persons placed in charge of the work Still, even at this early day, 

proof is not lacking of their substantial value in connection with the enforce- 
ment of attendance laws as indicated by figures submitted in this report. 

"The following data are significant. In the city of Rochester, opera- 
tions of the bureau brought to light 518 children unlawfully out of school. 
These were reported to the attendance division of the city for investigation 
and either each child was placed in school or the case otherwise lawfully 
disposed of. 

"In the city of Buffalo, 6,318 children were found unlawfully out of 
school. All of these cases were reported to the attendance division and 
each properly investigated and satisfactorily disposed of. 

"In the city of New York, 23,241 children were found unlawfully out of 
school by the census dragnet, while the initial enumeration of the city, for 
reasons mentioned in a previous report, is not yet entirely completed. To 
date, 17,231 of these cases have been investigated by the city's attendance 
division and properly disposed of. The others will receive attention as 
rapidly as may be. 

"The machinery of the attendance and child labor laws has been in 
operation in these three cities for over sixteen years, and with much success, 
yet the fact that the effort of the bureau located over 30,000 children unlaw- 
fully out of school is proof beyond question of the value of these bureaus 
as a very material aid in the enforcement of attendance laws." — Eighth 
Annual Report of the New York State Department of Education (1912), pp. 
325-26. 



2i6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

census relates only to the enumerations that have been made 
under the auspices of that department. 

With regard to the present methods of taking the Chicago 
school census, the first question to be raised is the advisability 
of taking the census at the close of the school year in May or 
June. It does not appear that this time is selected because of 
any legal requirement as to the collection of statistics. And 
if a school census is to be a means of discovering children who 
have slipped out of school or children who are trying to slip 
out of school, it should be taken in the early part of the school 
year, preferably in September and certainly not later than 
October. Children who were then discovered out of school 
could be placed in school and kept there under the supervision 
of the truant officers presumably for the entire school year. 
It is of little value to discover in May that children are unen- 
rolled, to enter them in school for the few remaining weeks of 
the school year, and then to give them the opportunity to lose 
themselves again before the reopening of the schools in the 
fall. To secure its share of the county fund, the school dis- 
trict must send in its data as to the minor population and school 
enrolment before the first of July. The theory underlying the 
spring enumeration may be that the postponement is likely 
to mean larger returns and therefore a larger share of the 
appropriation.^ 

' Since the writing of this chapter the school census of 1916 has been 
taken, but although this census was taken in the last week of March, some- 
what earlier than usual, the charge was made in the Chicago newspapers 
that the change in the time of taking the census was not a matter of 
educational policy but was due to a desire to give the city administration 
a large number of "jobs" to dispose of at a time when they might be 
used to influence the spring elections in favor of the administration can- 
didates. This charge was denied by the Superintendent of Compulsory 
Education who nevertheless persistently refused to publish the names of 
persons appointed to positions as enumerators. There is, of course, 
every reason why the census enumerators and supervisors should all be 
selected by civil-service methods. 



THE SCHOOL CENSUS 



217 



The objection is raised that too many famihes have not 
returned to the city in September to make this a desirable 
month for enumeration, but it may be pointed out that only 
a very small proportion of the child population of Chicago 
belongs to the fortunate class that migrates from the city in 
the summer and remains away through September. This may 
be a conspicuous portion of the population, but it is not a large 
portion. 

But the astonishing fact about the Chicago school census 
is that it seems to be useless as a means of discovering either 
unenroUed children or children unlawfully absent from school. 
In fact, according to the tables that are published in the school 
census for 1910, for 1912, and for 1914, there is apparently no 
difference between the total number of children in Chicago 
between seven and fourteen years of age and the number of 
children in that age group who are enrolled in school. For 
example, the total number of children between seven and four- 
teen attending school in 19 14 is said to be 285,878; the total 
population between seven and fourteen is 285,878. Table 
XXVII compiled from the three school census reports that 
have been issued by the Department of Compulsory Education 
seems to indicate that the total enrolment corresponds exactly 
with the total minor population. 

TABLE XXVII 

Number of Children between Seven and Fourteen Years of Age 

Attending School and Total Population of Chicago 

BETWEEN Seven and Fourteen Years of Age 

(Compiled from the School Census Reports forigio, 1912, and 19 14) 



Year 


Attending School 


Not in School 

FOR 30 

Consecutive 
Days 


Total 

Attending 

School 


Total Popula- 
tion of Chicago 


Public 


Private 


between 
7 Aim 14 


1910 

1912 

1914 


186,344 
187,120 
210,227 


61,444 
68,911 
74,141 


3,768 
2,419 
1,510 


251,556 
258,450 
285,878 


251,556 
258,450 
285,878 



2i8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The statement that the total school enrolment and the total 
minor population seem to correspond exactly is made on the 
assumption that children who are classified as "not in school 
for thirty consecutive days" are enrolled children. The tables 
given in the school census do not include such classes as "num- 
ber of children unenrolled" or "number of children unlawfully 
absent from school." Nor does there seem to be any place 
in the classification for the children who are not attending 
school because of mental and physical incapacity, although it 
is unnecessary to point out that there are a considerable 
number of such children in Chicago. These children, like 
the unenrolled children that are found, must be included under 
the heading "not in school for 30 days" in spite of the fact 
that they are not in school at all. 

In the text accompanying the tables in the last school census, 
that of 1914, there is to be found under the heading "Attend- 
ance Conditions" the following statement which seems to be 
the only explanation of what is meant by the classification 
"not in school for thirty consecutive days": 

There are 285,878 children of compulsory attendance age 
(between seven and fourteen years) in the city Of this num- 
ber only 1,510 were absent from school thirty consecutive days 
preceding May 4, 1914. Investigation by truant officers (who fol- 
lowed up the work of the enumerators to co-operate for the promotion 
of attendance) showed that with few exceptions, these 1,510 children 
were enrolled either at public or private schools and were temporarily 
absent for cause and excused on account of illness, under suspension, 
accident, misfortune in the family, or extenuating circumstances that 
justified temporary absence. In a few instances where they were 
not enrolled, or were truants, they were immediately placed in school 
by truant officers.^ 

The itahc in the sentences above is not found in the report, 
but has been added merely to call attention to these significant 

' Report of the Chicago School Census of 1914, p. 4. 



THE SCHOOL CENSUS 219 

words. For it appears that "in a few instances" the classi- 
fication "not in school for thirty days" includes children who 
were out of school for more than thirty days and children who 
were not enrolled in school at all. It is admitted, then, in the 
text accompanying the statistical tables that there are some 
cases of unenrolled children found by the census enumerators, 
but it is not considered worth while, even in a report of twenty- 
four printed pages, to tell either the number of unenrolled 
children discovered or the number of children unlawfully 
absent from school when the enumeration was made. Would 
a truant or any other child found by the census enumerators 
to be unlawfully absent from school but who had not, at the 
time of the enumeration, been absent thirty consecutive days 
be counted in the groups "attending public or private schools" ? 
This appears to be the case, and it seems only fair to ask that 
since the census enumerators must have been instructed to 
deal with such cases some account of their number should have 
been published. 

Moreover, it is not clear on what authority children are 
classified as "attending school" or "absent for thirty days." 
Is the statement of the parent accepted without verification, 
or are the school records and the school census sheets compared 
in order to determine these facts ? 

Further discussion of such a cause of absence as "under 
suspension" should be given. It is desirable to know exactly 
how many children in Chicago have been excluded from school 
in this way, and it is only fair to ask whether we have not yet 
resources in the way of truant rooms and parental school cot- 
tages to prevent the suspension of children for thirty days. 

A wasteful feature of the Chicago school census is that so 
much space is given to matters having no connection with the 
question of school attendance; in the 1914 census, for example, 
the entire adult as well as minor population was enumerated, 
and the right of the Board of Education to spend money on 



220 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

enumerating the adult population of Chicago might well be 
questioned. Much irrelevant matter is also to be found in the 
text. There is, for example, a discussion of "our infant inhab- 
itants" in Chicago, the number of wards having the largest 
number of babies, "births and deaths," "occupational popu- 
lation," "occupational population of the Loop district," decen- 
nial increases in the Chicago population since 1840, and other 
matters which may be of some interest to someone but which 
seem to have no relation to the enforcement of a compulsory 
education law. Certainly such matters could well be sacrificed 
to a more detailed presentation of facts regarding non-attendance. 
In general, the objections to the present system of taking 
the census in Chicago may be summarized as follows : 

1. A biennial census is inadequate as a means of enforcing 
the attendance law. 

2. The school census should be confined to the enumeration 
of minors. The last school census, of 19 14, was a census of the 
entire population. The superintendent of compulsory edu- 
cation recommended in the first census taken under his super- 
vision that the "biennial school census should include all ages, 
adults as well as minors in federal census years as well as other 
periods." This would seem to imply that the primary purpose 
of the census taking was to count, at least biennially, the whole 
Chicago population and not to aid in the enforcement of the 
compulsory law. If the latter object were desired, it would 
have been wiser to recommend that the money be expended 
for an annual census of the minor population.^ 

' See School Census, 1910: "The city of Chicago, through the agency of 
the Board of Education should take a municipal census every two years to 
insure a full and accurate count of its adult population as well as its minors 
and complete nativity statistics of all inhabitants who mark the progress 
of a civic growth, which is the pride of the Chicagoan and the envy of the 
world." This last sentence seems to indicate only too plainly that the 
school census is to be taken in order that we may have an annual excuse for 
glorifying our bigness, not because school attendance is important. 



THE SCHOOL CENSUS 221 

3. The time of the taking of the school census should be 
changed from the end to the beginning of the school year. If 
the census is to be a means of enforcing the compulsory law, 
then it should be taken, not in May or June, but in September 
or October. Children placed in school in May will disappear 
again before the next autumn. Children placed in school in 
September or October should be there for an entire year. It is 
another indication of the failure to understand the use of the 
census in connection with the enforcement of the school attend- 
ance requirements that in the census reports of 19 10 the follow- 
ing recommendation was made: "The school census should be 
taken in June and July when the teachers and truant officers 
are idle. With these trained experts as supervisors and enu- 
merators in the canvass, it would prove prolific of good results." 
It is not clear just what the value would be of discovering in 
July, when the schools have been closed for a two months' 
summer vacation, that certain children had not attended school 
during the past year. Certainly cases of children unlawfully 
absent from school could not be discovered when the schools 
were not in session. 

4. The method of presenting the statistical results should be 
entirely reorganized. It is not necessary to go into this matter 
in detail since the analysis of the statistics that appear in the 
19 14 census report shows how impossible it is to obtain from 
them such important facts as the number of unenroUed 
children, the number of children enrolled but unlawfully ab- 
sent, the number of mentally and physically defective chil- 
dren who have been found unenrolled and who are found 
upon examination by the Department of Child-Study to be 
either fit for special rooms or institutions or whose condition 
is such that no provision is made for them under our present 
system. 

Plans for the future need not be made in detail for the 
improvement of a system that is so barren of results. The 



222 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

most important question to be raised here is concerning the 
official or department under whose auspices the enumeration 
is to be made. Close as is the connection between the school 
census and the work of the Department of Compulsory Edu- 
cation, it is doubtful whether or not a department should be 
asked to make a report which might seem to indicate that its 
own work was inefficient. A school census taken with thor- 
oughness and care in a city as large as Chicago is bound to 
discover a very considerable number of unenroUed and unlaw- 
fully absent children. It is probable that any compulsory 
department would be reluctant to discover such facts.* If this 
is true then the taking of the school census should be trans- 
ferred to some other department, possibly the department of 
statistics. 

If the hope of an efficient state educational board or com- 
mission were not an impracticable one at the present time, it 
would be suggested that the census taking for the whole state 
should be done directly under state authority. The local 
authorities should not be asked to supervise and report on the 
enforcement of the compulsory education law any more than 

' Thus, after the work of taking the school census had been given to 
the Department of Compulsory Education, each census report contained 
a statement to the effect that school attendance had never been better. 
In the census report of 19 lo (p. 4, paragraph headed "Temporary Absen- 
tees"), we are told that "in comparison to the great increase in enrolment 
and membership and the perennial iUness incidental to childhood, the 
attendance conditions are the best within the life of the schools." In 191 2, 
in the synopsis of his census report, the superintendent of compulsory 
education in his capacity of census- taker noted that he found "attendance 
conditions at the public and private schools, of children between seven and 
fourteen years [the compulsory attendance age] the best within the life of 
Chicago" (p. 3). And again in the school census of 1914 (p. 4) we are told 
by the same authority that " the reports from principals at the public schools 
and teachers in charge of the private schools verified the fact that attend- 
ance conditions were the best [among children of compulsory education age 
in particular] within the history of the schools" (p. 4). 



THE SCHOOL CENSUS 223 

upon the enforcement of the child labor law.^ A permanent 
state census board could be established which should be con- 
tinuously active, taking the census in the opening of the school 
year in the larger cities, then enumerating for the small towns 
and rural districts, then returning to check up again on the 
larger cities, and so on in rotation. 

FaiHng such a system, plans might be laid looking toward 
the establishment of a system of continuous enumeration or 
permanent census bureau in Chicago. Such a system could be 
most easily carried on at present by the different principals. 
That is, in each school might be kept a file containing an up-to- 
date register of each house in the district, showing the number 
of children in each family in each house. This would mean 
that each principal should have a clerk or clerks whose business 
it would be to keep this file up to date somewhat after the 
manner in which the "school visitor" in an English city keeps 
up his lists. These principals' clerks or visitors might combine 
the work of keeping up their file with the visiting teacher work 
which is described in the following chapter. The work of the 
Department of Compulsory Attendance need not be done away 
with since the court work could all be left to this department. 

' No attempt has been made in these pages to discuss the use of the 
school census as a means of securing an equitable distribution of funds. 
Quite properly the state law specifies that the distribution of the state fund 
among the different counties should be only on the basis of a state or federal 
enumeration evidently on the supposition that the temptation to exaggerate 
the title to funds would be too great for the authorities of some of the 
counties concerned. The question might be raised as to whether this is not 
true also of distribution within the county which is now based on local 
returns. The whole situation would be easily improved if all the work of 
enumeration were under state control. The question might also be raised 
here as to whether school funds should be distributed on the basis of the 
minor population instead of on the basis of the minor population attending 
school. In the early days, it will be remembered, teachers were paid in 
proportion to the number of days their pupils attended school. See, for 
example, Appendix IV, doc. 2, sec. 4, pp. 433-34. 



224 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Recalcitrant parents and "habitual truants" might be referred 
to truant officers for prosecution, while the persistent search 
after the non-attending child should be done by a large staff 
of officers working on each day's list of absences for each indi- 
vidual school. 

Plans looking toward a permanent school census system 
under state control should not be considered revolutionary 
since they are already being considered in Massachusetts, where 
a state board of education already has wide authority. In fact, 
this chapter may well be brought to a close with the following 
extract from a discussion of this subject in the Annual Report 
of the Massachusetts State Board of Education for 1909-10: 

Probably of more serious consequence educationally than the 
relatively small number of cases of truancy which occur is the large 
amount of irregular attendance for which there is no sufficient reason. 
It is now impracticable to measure this, because no one assembles at 
the close of each school year the attendance statistics of all children, 
whether in public or private schools or at work. Until this is done, 
no satisfactory means can be found for determining the exact loss to 
school children through preventable irregular attendance. 

For these and other reasons it may in time prove desirable for 
the Board to extend its work in such a way as to provide some inspec- 
tion or supervision of the enforcement of compulsory attendance 
laws. At least one of the agents of the Board has in the past given 
some attention to this matter, especially in cases where local authori- 
ties were indifferent. The effect has been most salutary. A state 
agent carries a large weight of authority when he goes into a com- 
munity with the view of co-operating in the effort to deal with 
recalcitrant parents and of inducing school committees and super- 
intendents to be more active in enforcing the law. Furthermore, it 
would be the duty of a state agent employed for this particular 
purpose, to develop a system of registration which should be carried 
out by attendance officers. It has been sufficiently demonstrated 
that to keep up this registration would not greatly increase the 
responsibility of these officers, and it would, on the other hand, 



THE SCHOOL CENSUS 225 

materially strengthen their position in enforcing attendance. What 
is needed is an inventory and record of the children in the community 
who are legally required to attend school. In co-operation with the 
teachers, it would be a simple matter to record on individual cards 
at the close of each year the details of attendance, whether in parochial 
or public schools. In this way, interested individuals would always 
be able to locate all children of the community with whom the state 
is concerned, and it would be possible also from time to time to 
measure the amount of school attendance. 

Connecticut has a satisfactory mechanism of just this sort. 
The state attendance officers are called upon to deal with difficult 
cases, the enforcement of which would prove a burden on school 
committees and superintendents. In the near future it would seem 
desirable for Massachusetts to establish some similar procedure. 

Is it too much to hope that Illinois may also become pro- 
gressive enough in educational matters to consider the adoption 
of a similar policy ? 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE VISITING TEACHER AS A REMEDY FOR TRUANCY AND 
NON-ATTENDANCE 

A study of the cases of non-attendance and truancy already 
cited cannot fail to bring conviction as to the inadequacy of 
present methods of treatment. The statute provides for a corps 
of truant officers whose duty it is to return children to school. 
As to the adequacy of the service, attention might be called to 
the fact that the number of truant officers seems very small 
when compared with the number maintained in some other 
cities. London, for example, maintains 390, or one officer for 
every 1,900 children; New York felt in 19 13 very inadequately 
equipped with only 100 officers, or one to every 7,000 children; 
while Chicago felt that its work was properly done, "truancy 
being less than i per cent of the enrolment in both public and pri- 
vate schools," with only 53 officers, or one to every 8,419 children. 
The statute provides also for the prosecution of recalcitrant 
parents and for the commitment of truant and incorrigible boys 
to the Parental School. But to return the child to school today, 
without trying to deal with the influences that kept him out 
yesterday, is likely to mean that he will be absent again tomor- 
row or at some later date, when he may or may not be discovered 
by an officer of the department; to prosecute the parent may 
effect a temporary improvement in the child's school attendance, 
but if a parent is so lacking in intelligence with reference to his 
child's schooling as to require prosecution, he probably needs 
help of other kinds in order that he may better understand and 
fulfil the duty he owes his child. Moreover, it has been pointed 
out that there is great waste in committing a child to the 
Parental School on the ground that there is no hope in his home 
surroundings of an improvement in his conduct or school attend- 
ance, and then in a few months returning him to the surround- 

226 



THE VISITING TEACHER 227 

ings in which he has been demorahzed. It is the old story of 
the vicious circle. 

What seems to be needed is the application to the problems 
of non-attendance and truancy of the same methods of treat- 
ment that are applied to other social problems. For, while 
non-attendance and truancy are school problems, they are of 
a social rather than of an educational character. It has been 
difi&cult for the community to realize that the problems of the 
school are not wholly educational. A large group of questions 
today, such as school meals, school nurses, open-air schools, 
employment supervision, social centers, and all the attempts 
to see that the children get medical care and special treatment 
when necessary are obviously social problems, and only edu- 
cational in that the efficiency of the educational work depends 
upon their being properly understood and solved. In this 
group of social-educational problems properly belongs, too, the 
prevention of non-attendance and truancy. These new school 
functions which have grown up with the idea that there is a 
responsibility on the community to see that each child is given 
at least a minimum of child-care have made clear the necessity 
of co-operation on the part of the school with the work of the 
various social agencies in the community. 

The proposal that the school should avail itself of the serv- 
ices of the social worker is not a novel suggestion. The 
English school system, as it has taken over the various social 
activities involved in feeding necessitous children, securing 
attendance, finding employment, and estabhshing a school 
medical service and school clinics, has developed effective 
machinery of a social character under the form of Care Com- 
mittees.' And in New York and Boston the use of the home 

' See Margaret Frere, Children's Care Committees (London, 1909) ; 
Douglas Pepler, The Care Committee: The Child and the Parent (London, 
191 2); and Finding Employment for Children Who Leave the Grade Schools 
to Go to Work, pp. 41-48: "Public Care of Working- Children in England 
and Germany," by E. Abbott. 



2 28 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

and school visitor, or visiting teacher as she may be called, has 
been carried beyond the experimental stage. ^ In New York, 
the Public Education Association has maintained since 1907 
a staff of seven visiting teachers, and more recently provision 
has been made in the public school system for an additional 
number of visiting teachers supported by the public funds. 

The work of the visiting teacher has been described as 
"social work," and her work, if effective, must be based on the 
principles of what is known as good "case work," which means 
a thorough understanding and specialized treatment of each 
individual case. It means also knowledge of such social 
agencies as the community may have provided and resourceful- 
ness in utilizing those agencies. It seems scarcely necessary 
to explain that "case work" was once supposed to be pecuHar 
to the work of charity organization or relief societies, perhaps 
because investigation was thought to prevent reUeving the " un- 
worthy" poor. It now characterizes the work of all effective 
social agencies. 

A detailed account of the visiting teacher's work has been 
given in reports issued by the Public Education Association of 
New York. For example, the most recent report shows that 
out of 873 children dealt with by the visiting teachers in 1913-14, 
their assistance was asked in 215 'cases, or 24.6 per cent of 
the whole number, because of school maladjustment; in 171, 
or 19.6 per cent, because of ill-health; in ;^8, or 4.4 per cent, 
because of difficulties due to individual peculiarity; in 172, or 
19 .7 per cent, because of economic stress in the family; in 209, 
or 23 .9 per cent, because of lack of family co-operation; in 43, 
or 4 .9 per cent, because of immoral conditions in the home; in 
25, or 2 .9 per cent, because of adverse neighborhood conditions. 
To secure the necessary readjustments in these cases the city 

' Dr. Richard C. Cabot, "Body and Soul in Work for Children," in 
The Child in the City, p. 18. See also the annual reports of Boston Home 
and School Association. 



THE VISITING TEACHER 229 

departments of Education, Police, Health, and Labor, the 
Tenement House Department, agencies for relief and correc- 
tion, health agencies of various kinds, neighborhood agencies 
like settlements, employment agencies, and other educational 
institutions were drawn in.^ 

Through the efforts, then, of the school visitor, medical 
care and treatment are obtained, relief may be secured for the 
family through the proper agencies, employment found for a 
father or an older brother; the other children may likewise be 
aided in various ways; the child under care may be tutored or 
connected with some settlement group, or some special oppor- 
tunity for play may be found for him, or perhaps he may be 
transferred to another room or school, all to the end and with 
the result that the purpose for which the elaborate and costly 
school system is established, the building erected, the trained 
teacher placed in that particular place at that time (namely, 
that that particular child, with the other children, shall receive 
at least the statutory minimum of education), shall be fulfilled. 
In rendering these services all the resources of the community 
are drawn upon, "to the end that conditions in the lives of 

^ See Public Education Association of City of New York, Bulletin 
No. 15, April 5, 1913, The Visiting Teacher, a report by Mary Flexner; 
also The Visiting Teacher in New York City, a statement of the function 
and an analysis of the work of the visiting teacher staff of the Public Edu- 
cation Association from 191 2 to 1915 inclusive, by Harriet Johnson, June, 
19 1 6. Attention should be called to the fact that the visiting-teacher work 
was not initiated by the Public Education Association, but was taken over 
after the value of the work had been demonstrated by the employment of 
visiting teachers by several settlements. See also Truancy, A Study of the 
Mental, Physical, and Social Factors of the Problem of Non-attendance at 
School, by Elizabeth Irwin, published by the same association in June, 
1915; and see Schools and Social Reform, report of Unionist Social Reform 
Committee on Education, by S. J. G. Hoare, M.P. It is interesting to note 
that the first National Conference of Visiting Teachers was held in New 
York in Jiily, 1916, during the meeting there of the National Education 
Association. 



230 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

children may be so adjusted that they may make more normal 
and more profitable school progress." Incidentally, the work 
of the regular teacher is rendered not only more efficient but 
more intelligent, sympathetic, and interesting, and incidentally, 
too, the families of the children cared for are enabled to under- 
stand much more clearly than would otherwise be possible, 
what the school system is intended to do for them and their 
children. 

In Chicago certain services of this general character have 
for the past five years been rendered in connection with the 
"case work" done in the Employment Supervision Bureau 
which is now a part of the Chicago public school system. 
This bureau^ attempts to find employment for the children 
who leave the grade schools to go to work, but many children 
are persuaded by the workers of the bureau to continue in 
school, and in other cases, in connection with aiding the children 
who ask help of this special character, very important services 
are rendered to other children in the family who are still attend- 
ing school. Not only has the Employment Supervision Bureau 
shown the importance of a social agency at work within the 
school system, but in the last few months of the school year 
19 15-16 the employment of a visiting-teacher in the Jones 
School by a committee of the Chicago Woman's Club has shown 
the valuable results to be obtained from such work. In an 
unpublished report by this visiting teacher, it appears that 
children were sent to her for the following reasons: assistance 
beheved to be needed by the family, non-attendance or mis- 
conduct, poor scholarship, physical or mental subnormality, 
illegally selling papers out of school hours, bodily uncleanliness, 
information as to home conditions desired by the principal, and 
so on. The work of this visiting teacher may be illustrated 
by the treatment of the following cases that were referred to her. 

' See Appendix VII, "The Development of the Chicago Bureau of 
Employment Supervision." 



THE VISITING TEACHER 231 

A teacher reported that M , who was absent one or 

two days each week, claimed that she was obliged to help with 
the washing and ironing for the family because her mother was 
ill. The visiting teacher went to the home but found that the 
mother showed no signs of ill-health. The visiting teacher 
then asked the Visiting Nurses Association to send a nurse to 
the home in order to find out if the mother's condition necessi- 
tated M — 's absence. The nurse secured a statement from 

the mother's physician saying, ''there is absolutely no reason 
why the children should be kept out of school to help her." 
The visiting teacher then reported to the grade teacher, and 

M 's excuse of being needed at home has not since been 

accepted and her attendance has been regular. 

F 's teacher reported that his mother wanted to take 

him out of school so that he might go to work. F is in 

the fourth grade. A visit was made to the home, and the mother 

was persuaded that F 's continuance in school would be 

worth the sacrifice it entailed. Just a month later the teacher 

reported F 's absence. Another visit was made to the 

home ; it was found that F had been staying out of school 

because of a sore on his neck, and the visiting teacher, suspect- 
ing tuberculosis, made an arrangement to have the boy exam- 
ined by the school doctor. As a result he was taken to the 
Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium Dispensary, where the 
trouble was diagnosed as tuberculosis of the glands. An 

application was made to place F in the Municipal 

Tuberculosis Sanitarium for the summer. The visiting 
teacher kept in touch with the boy until he was able to return 
to school. 

J was reported as frequently absent. The visiting 

teacher found that the family of six lived in two rooms in the 
rear of a deplorably dirty tenement and that the little boy was 
kept home to care for two sisters, aged five and three, while his 
widowed mother went out washing. In this case the woman 



232 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

was found to be eligible for a "widow's pension," and steps were 
imniediately taken to secure the pension for her. 

Further evidence that the assistance of social workers is 
needed by the schools is to be found in the number of cases of 
children referred by the schools to the various social agencies of 
Chicago. For example, a report of the Juvenile Protective 
Association prepared in April, 19 16, discussed the cases con- 
cerning school children which were proving a heavy addition 
to the ''case work" of that organization. According to this 
unpublished report, it appears that out of a total of 886 cases 
received by the Association during the three months of Jan- 
uary, February, and March, 1916, 126 were school cases. This 
does not include all cases of school children handled by the 
association, but only the cases in which the assistance of the 
officers of the association was asked in deahng directly with 
the child's relationship to the school. 

These 126 cases involving school children (which means, of 
course, a total of more than 126 children) included 85 com- 
plaints which came from the school authorities themselves in 
addition to complaints from outsiders. Of the 85 cases coming 
from the schools themselves 14 concerned attendance; 26, the 
physical condition of school children; 8 were cases of subnormal 
children; 12 were cases of bad environment; 14 involved a 
more general problem of child welfare; 4 were miscellaneous 
complaints received by schools and transferred; 4 were cases 
of boys who were incorrigible in school; and 3 were cases of 
children stealing in school. 

In the two following cases illustrations are furnished of the 
14 cases concerning attendance submitted by the schools. 

In the case of the J family there was a complaint 

of bad home conditions, and the principal of the school asked 
the association to undertake the work of improving the home 
influences, while the school would at the same time exert 
all possible pressure to secure regular school attendance. In 



THE VISITING TEACHER 233 

the case of the F family there was -a similar complaint 

of bad home conditions, and the association was asked to make 
a report on the family situation that would enable the school 
to deal more intelligently with the attendance problem. But 
in this case the truant officer had also been asked to investigate 
the home, and had the association attempted an investigation 
there would have been the difficulty of having two social work- 
ers representing different organizations both attempting to deal 
with the same family with confusing results. 

The truant officer is referred to as a social worker, and so 
she should be. But the work of these officers too often falls 
short of the standard of good social work in this community. 
This point is best illustrated by the failure of the truant officers 
to make use of the social registration bureau known as the 
" confidential exchange." By registering a case in the exchange, 
it is possible for the social worker to learn whether or not any 
other social workers have been dealing with the child or the 
family and what their experience has been. The case of the 

M family illustrates this point. Henry M , who 

was thirteen years old, was brought into the central office of the 
Juvenile Protective Association one Friday afternoon while 
school was in session with $9 . 83 in his pockets, which he said he 
had begged in the Loop district during the day. He had been 
"reported" to the association by a business man who had 
enough social intelligence to know that it was not a kindness 
to the child to give him money and to encourage him to go on 
begging. An officer of the association who went to the school 
which Henry was supposed to attend found that he had been 
absent fifty-five half-days since September and that thirty-four 
of these absences were on Friday. He had been absent all day 
Friday thirteen times, and a half-day on Friday eight times. 
Later evidence showed that these regular Friday absences were 
for the purpose of begging. The attention of the truant officer 
had twice been called to Henry's absences. Each time she had 



234 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

reported back to the school that the family was poor and the 
boy had stayed out "to get bread" for the family. Now the 
Juvenile Protective Association officer discovered by registering 

with the confidential exchange that the M family had 

been known to the United Charities for a period of eight years 
and that during this time strenuous efforts had been made to 

compel Mr. M to support his family. Within the last 

two years the United Charities had received thirteen reports 
of the child's begging, but the family had contrived by giving 
false addresses to elude the Charities visitors. The Juvenile 
Protective Association investigator called at the home and 
found ample confirmation of the facts in the United Charities 
record. The family were living in a good home, which was 

owned by Mr. M 's father, who also owned another house 

on the same lot. Mr. M was at home unemployed, and 

the mother was at first plausible and then defiant. She 
admitted, when she found the officer in possession of the facts, 
that she sent the boy out begging every Friday, but said that 
she thought he was doing very well if he went to school four 
days a week. Had the truant officer consulted the record in 
the United Charities office, it is quite clear that the little boy 
would not have been excused for his begging expeditions. One 
great advantage which the private social agencies of Chicago 
have over the truant officers at the present time is that they 
register and "clear" in the confidential exchange the famihes 
with which they are asked to deal. 

Attention may be called here to the teacher's acquiescence 
in Henry's Friday half-hohday when she was informed that it 
was a case of necessity. Reference has been made before to the 
fact that teachers assume too much latitude in determining 
what shall be accepted as a sufficient cause or a good excuse for 
absence. The real point of difficulty is that too often the 
teachers do not know anything about the organized social 
agencies of the community that might be asked to assist in cases 



THE VISITING TEACHER 235 

of seemingly necessary absences. Too often, also, it appears 
that truant officers are likewise ignorant of the community's 
social resources. Another illustration of this may be found in 
the case of Joe L which is also cited in the Juvenile Pro- 
tective Association's report. On November 17, 1915, Joe's 
teacher sent in a report to the association complaining that Joe 
was habitually tardy or absent from school in the morning 
because he was out selling newspapers. Joe's mother when 
interviewed claimed that the school principal had given Joe 
permission to come late or to remain away from the morning 
session. Joe had bought during the summer the right to sell 
papers at a certain corner from 4:30 to 10:30 in the morning 
and was loath to part with this valuable concession. The 
principal when interviewed confirmed this statement, but said 
that she had granted the permission for September only and 
would notify the parents that it was now revoked. Her excuse 
for ignoring the compulsory education law was that she thought 
the boy should be given time to sell his corner; but since he had 
had nearly three months to do this, she decided that the quick- 
est way to get it sold would be to require his attendance at 
school. A similar case was that of a principal who sent to the 
representative of another social agency a small boy with a letter 

containing the following statement: " George P 's mother 

is well known to me. Her children are regular attendants at 

this school. I know Mrs. P to be in sore need of George's 

help and I recommend he be allowed to go to work on condition 
that he regularly attend night school. George .... is, the 
oldest of six children. He is just ready for eighth grade." 
The letter, which was written in November, also stated that 
George would not be fourteen until the following May. Under 
the law the principal had no discretion as to compelling the 
child's school attendance for the next six months. But the 
point to be emphasized here is not merely the ignorance of or 
the indifference to the law on the part of teachers and principals, 



236 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

but the fact that a competent social worker would have found 
some method of assisting the mother that did not involve 
a sacrifice of the child's schooling and a violation of the law. 
It is believed that in all cases of non-attendance alleged to be 
due to such causes as extreme poverty, need for child's earnings 
or assistance in helping to care for younger children, sickness of 
mother or other members of the family, or lack of suitable 
clothing, an experienced social worker by calling on the proper 
relief agencies, arranging for the care of younger children in a 
day nursery, arranging for the boarding out of other children 
during illness, and by many other devices can protect the child's 
right to the minimum of education prescribed by law. 

Another illustration of the needless waste resulting from the 
failure to utilize the social resources that are available may be 
found in the case of a little Italian girl living in the Hull-House 

neighborhood, Josie D , whose mother died in a hospital, 

leaving five children, the eldest, Tony, a boy of fourteen, and 
the youngest, a baby of two months. Josie was only twelve. 
She was not old enough to work like Tony, but her father, who 
was a switchman earning good wages, thought that she was old 
enough to stay at home and to take care of the two younger 
children. A nurse, who fortunately was a social worker as well 
as a nurse, explained that this was impossible, and thought it 
might be best to put the children in a home. She was wise 
enough, however, to ask advice from a specialized social agency, 
and it was arranged that the two younger children were to be 
left by Josie at an excellent day nursery, which was only a block 
from their home, and that Josie was to go to the nursery for 
lunch and to play after school until the father came home. But 
the father evidently did not approve of the plan. In March, 
just a year later, the teacher asked a United Charities worker 
who happened to be at the school if she would visit the home 

of Josie D , who had not been to school for many months. 

The teacher said that Josie "was a very good girl and that she 



THE VISITING TEACHER 237 

and the truant officer had been lenient only because they knew 
that Josie was not to blame." 

A visit to the home was made by the social worker, who 
found Josie, now aged thirteen, at home, cooking and trying to 
iron and to look after little Nick at the same time. She had 
just finished washing and was weary enough to say that she 
would much rather go to school, but there was no one at home 
to do the work. She explained that the baby had died during 
the past year, so there was only little Nick to look after. 
Another visit was made when the father was at home, and it 
was explained to him that Josie must go to school, that the baby 
would be much better off in a nursery, and that with a good 
salary, such as he was earning, he ought to pay a woman to 
wash and iron. But the man had been spoiled by the year's 
indulgence. He had had his own way, had found it easy to 
persuade the school authorities that Josie ought to be excused 
from school, and could not be convinced now that the charity 
visitor was speaking any more authoritatively than the nurse 
who had told him a year before that he could not keep Josie at 
home to do the work. Further attempt to influence the man 
was given up, and an appeal was made to the superintendent 
of the Department of Compulsory Education who immediately 
took steps to have the child placed in school. 

Comment on this case is scarcely necessary. Josie had lost 
a whole year of schoohng and the baby had died, a double 
catastrophe, which could probably have been avoided if the 
school authorities had known that co-operation with the social 
agencies only a few blocks away might have worked out a plan 
that would have released Josie from the burdens she was trying 
to carry. 

There are many other cases like that of Josie, and for a large 
number of these there is now no social agency that can render 
the service needed. A school visitor who had already had the 
training and experience of a social worker could, if attached to 



238 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

each school, do a great deal, not only toward making the children 
more regular in attendance but in seeing that they are in 
better condition for study when they arrive. Many families 
need persistent following up through a long period of years. 
These families who neglect their children's schooling are fre- 
quently families that are steadily going down and need to be 
watched closely. If this is not done, not only do the children 
in such families go to pieces, but they become centers of conta- 
gion through which many other children are harmed. 

The history of the fruitless efforts to get the children of an- 
other family to school and to keep them there illustrates further 
the need for the services of school visitors who are competent 
social workers. In this case the work of the relief society should 
have been supplemented by the efforts of a representative of the 
school concerned primarily with the school attendance of the 
children. 

When a visitor from the United Charities happened to be 

visiting the X school to ask about the school attendance 

of the children from a family that was being helped by the 
society, the principal of the school asked the visitor if something 

could not be done about the A family. He explained 

that three children of this family, Mary, aged twelve, who was 
in the fifth grade, Helen, aged eleven, who was in "high first," 
and Johnnie, aged seven, who was in "low first," were out of 
school because they had no shoes. The principal also said that 
he had heard that the family were a "bad lot," and, as he had 
heard that there were three able-bodied men in the family, he 
was anxious to prosecute them. 

The children had been out of school all fall. The truant 
officer had picked them up and brought them to school once. 
Mary's teacher said that she was a nice little girl, but her 
attendance very poor; she had been out of school three months 
before being brought in by the truant officer. A visit to the 
family disclosed a miserable home. The father and two sons, 



THE VISITING TEACHER 239 

aged twenty-two and twenty, were all idle. The three school 
children looked very frail and neglected. Johnnie, aged seven, 
who had adenoids, had been examined by the nurse who said 
he could not return to school until his adenoids were removed; 
and since this had not been done he had lost in consequence 
nearly a year's schooling. The three children were fitted out 
and got back to school on December 2, and persistent efforts 
were made to drive the men to work. The children attended 
school regularly for two weeks in December, probably as a 
result of the visit made by the United Charities, and were 

then "chiefly absent again until transferred to the Y 

school." 

In January the family was evicted and moved to another 
district. In March the family was again located and visited, 
and the children were found staying at home because they were 
"going to move," as the family had been evicted again. It was 

explained that the children must transfer to the B school 

and enrol at once. Three weeks later, the home was again 
visited, and the children found at home, this time, because they 

"had moved." They promised to attend the B school 

at once. Five days later, when another visit was made to 
the home, it was found that the two girls had gone to school, 
but the little boy, Johnnie, was at home alone with a man 
boarder. 

These cases show how necessary is eternal vigilance in the 
cases where bad family conditions are interfering with the 
regular attendance of children. A school visitor would, it is 
believed, be of great service in following up such families and 
in making the persistent efforts which alone will prevent 
the demoralization and waste of non-attendance. The school 
visitor might also help to obviate the social waste that results 
in the cases in which the teacher or the principal knows 
that social agencies exist which might be helpful in securing 
proper treatment for children in the school, but refuses because 



240 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

of misunderstanding, to co-operate with or make any use of 
such agencies. 

In one school, for example, the principal appealed to an 

investigator for some clothing for the M children to wear 

to school. The children were out of school on the plea of 
insufficient clothing. The principal was very angry when his 
request was referred to the United Charities, and was at first 
unwilhng to listen to the facts that were found in the records 

of that society. Mrs. M had been refused a pension by 

the Juvenile Court because she was immoral — flagrantly so. 
The United Charities had tried to improve conditions in the 
home but had finally, after the mother had given birth to an 
illegitimate child, referred the family to a probation officer. 
The two boys were committed to an institution for dependent 
children, but were never admitted because the institution at 
the time was under quarantine. The United Charities had 
recently sent a visitor to the home, who had found that the 
woman was employed in a good tailoring shop, earning $8 a 
week, but frankly admitted that she was living with a young 
man of her own nationality, who had not yet been persuaded 
to marry her. The United Charities found the children warmly 
and sufficiently dressed, and warned the woman that they were 
about to ask the interference of the court because the home was 
not fit for the children. The eleven-year-old girl was sufficiently 
provided with clothing to go to school, but the mother found 
it convenient to keep her at home to care for the four-year-old 
illegitimate child. Although an effort was made to secure the 
co-operation of the principal in getting such action from the 
court as would make the woman give up her evil relations or 
place the older children in some other home, he persisted in his 
belief that the children were absent from school on account of 
lack of proper clothing, and maintained that it was the duty of 
the society to give clothing to the children since their mother 
excused their non-attendance on this ground, and made no 



THE VISITING TEACHER 241 

further inquiries. He persisted also in his refusal to discuss 
any cases with representatives of the society, which he said 
"no doubt made a very efficient investigation," but had never 
to his knowledge during a long period of years given "actual 
aid to needy children." When pressed to give illustrations of 
such neglect he could give none except the case of an equally 
disreputable home which the society with the co-operation of 
a settlement, the officers of a children's society, a representative 
of the Juvenile Court, and every social agency in the community, 
except the school, had tried to make a fit place for the children 
to five in. Here again, the principal, who had never visited 
the home, persisted in believing that the only obstacle to regu- 
lar attendance on the part of the children was the unwillingness 
of the society to pour in a supply of shoes and clothing, at his 
request, even when the society knew that the children were 
already suppUed with both. 

Conditions as untoward as this exist in many families which 
are not yet known to any social agency and with which the 
school alone comes in contact. If, then, there could be a good 
social worker attached to every school, not only cases of neglect 
but extreme poverty, sickness, incapacity on the part of the 
mother of the family, and unfavorable home conditions of many 
other kinds would be discovered at the earliest possible moment, 
and if there were in the community agencies for dealing with 
such cases, their aid could be promptly secured, or, if special 
forms of need could not be met, the attention of the community 
could be effectively called to that lack. In this way a great 
step forward might be taken toward the prevention of desti- 
tution in the next generation and a great deal of present suffer- 
ing might be relieved. 

Attention must also be called to the services of the visiting 
teacher in the innumerable cases in which the child is falling 
behind or getting dissatisfied with school. Sometimes this is 
due to an undiscovered physical or nervous cause that might 



242 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

be counteracted if discovered in time. In connection with 
these children there is great opportunity for preventive work. 
Then, too, in the case of the children who are sent to the Parental 
School, much could be done during the period of their commit- 
ment to render their homes safer places for them to return to. 
In some instances families might be moved away from demoral- 
izing neighborhood conditions, or the father could be helped to 
keep in work. In fact, all those influences hostile to the child's 
well-being could be studied and dealt with as effectively as the 
resources of the community would allow. Obviously great 
waste occurs every time a child is needlessly absent from school 
or present in such condition that he cannot take full advantage 
of the opportunity offered. A skilled home visitor would greatly 
reduce both these forms of waste. Moreover, she could dis- 
cover conditions at so early a period that other agencies could 
be promptly called in. The services of the physician, the nurse, 
the dispensary, the sanitary bureau, the charitable society; 
the Juvenile Court or the friendly assistance of a neighboring 
settlement; these and other agencies could be invoked in the 
beginning of the family decline or before the family trouble 
became incurable or chronic. 

At the present time the teacher or principal may ask the 
co-operation of the relief society or an agency for caring for 
children, such as the Juvenile Protective Association, but every 
agency is greatly overworked and understaffed, and none is in 
so good a position to keep track of changes in the family, 
whether they be for the better or for the worse, as the school 
would be if it were only adequately equipped. In fact, at the 
present time, the family may be visited by the school nurse, 
the visiting nurse, the rehef visitor, and the representatives of, 
perhaps, other agencies; and in spite of the efforts of all these 
visitors the real source of demoralization may not be discovered 
because no one of them may be responsible for more than 
temporary service to the family. If the school were enabled 



THE VISITING TEACHER 243 

to discover hostile influences, the co-operation of other agencies 
in combating them could be sought and obtained, and the task 
of each efficiently performed, because in the attendance of the 
children at school there would be found a fairly adequate test 
of the conditions prevaihng in the family. 

Among other agencies which would greatly profit by the 
development of such co-operation within the school would be 
the medical inspection and school nursing service of the Depart- 
ment of Health. The city expends nearly $350,000 annually 
on the Child Hygiene Division of the health service, and the 
development of any machinery that will enable it more com- 
pletely to fulfil the purpose for which it is established can be 
regarded only as sound economy. The report of the Juvenile 
Protective Association, which has been frequently quoted in 
this chapter, showed that in three months 28 cases of school 
children had been referred to the association because of their 
physical condition. Among these was the case of a child who 
came to school in a verminous condition. The school principal 
wrote to say that the school nurse had been sent once to the 
home, but the child's mother had used obscene language and 
therefore the nurse could not return. In another case a child 
was sent in from a near-by school with the request that the 
association arrange for a medical examination without any state- 
ment as to why the school medical service had not been utilized, 
and in two other cases the school principal complained that the 
children of a certain family came to school filthy and that a little 
boy was so offensive in his physical condition that other children 
did not like to sit near him. But in none of these cases had 
the school nurse been asked to see what could be done for these 
neglected children. A similar failure to utilize school resources 
was indicated in the cases of the subnormal children referred 
to the Juvenile Protective Association. Five of these children 
proved to be in need of commitment, but in two cases only had 
they been reported to the Department of Child-Study. One of 



244 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

these was a subnormal girl of school age who for five years had 
not been in school at all. It is believed that a social worker in 
the capacity of "visiting teacher" could make such social re- 
sources as the schools already possess more effective in meeting 
the needs of such neglected and afflicted children. 

It is not suggested that the school visitors or visiting teachers 
would replace or supplant the officers of the Department of Com- 
pulsory Education. They would supplement the work of that 
department, and, to the extent to which they could do preven- 
tive work, they might influence that department to specialize 
in the care of those cases in which there remains a consider- 
able disciphnary element. To the extent to which such 
specialization took place, the efficiency of the department would 
doubtless be raised. In this connection the following state- 
ment from the final report of the New York Committee on 
School Inquiry may be quoted: 

The investigation of causes of irregularity of attendance, delin- 
quency, and unsatisfactory progress of school children; preventive 
treatment for minimizing and removing these causes; and disci- 
phnary treatment for the application and enforcement of remedial 
measures are integral and indispensable elements of educational 

administration The (compulsory attendance) service, at 

present limits itself unduly to the performance of police functions, 
aiming chiefly at the immediate explanation and checking of truancy 
and irregularity, rather than the prevention of truancy and irregu- 
larity, by attempting to discover and control their causes. Such 
control of truancy by police methods alone is quite inadequate and 
often inappropriate. The harmful effect of irregularity of attendance 
on the education of children was pointed out above in the discussions 
of promotions and non-promotions. The evil effect of irregularity 
and truancy on character and conduct during and outside of school 
hours is obvious. The prevention of irregularity and truancy by 
striking at their causes is therefore even more important than the 
attempt to cure them. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE TRUANCY PROBLEM IN THE CHICAGO SUBURBS AND IN 
OTHER PARTS OF ILLINOIS' 

The services of the Department of Compulsory Education 
and the benefits of the Parental School are enjoyed only by the 
children of Chicago. Outside of Chicago, but within Cook 
County and therefore within the jurisdiction of the Juvenile 
Court, there are 175 elementary-school districts. These dis- 
tricts may be divided into two groups. There are, first, those 
districts that are really rural in character; for example, loi 
districts have the typical one-room, one-teacher rural school; 
28 have 2 teachers each; 9 have 3, and 5 have 4 teachers each. 
Then, there are those districts that are suburban rather than 
rural; there are 32 of these. They employ all the way from 
5 to 117 teachers and maintain modern graded schools. 

In all these districts, just as in the cities, the education 
authorities are required by statute to appoint someone to act 
as a truant officer whose duty it shall be to return children to 
school and to prosecute recalcitrant parents.^ These districts 
are not, however, required to estabhsh parental or truant 
schools, and in no one of the suburban towns is there a parental 
school. The children in these districts are in fact in the same 
plight, so far as institutional provision is concerned, in which 
Chicago boys were before the estabhshment of the Chicago 
Parental School in 1902 and in which the girls and all fourteen- 
to sixteen-year-old Chicago children are now; and therefore 
no children from these districts are brought as truants before 
the Juvenile Court under the compulsory school law. Public 

' For this chapter we are largely indebted to Miss Helen Campbell, 
research student, 191 2 -13. 

'Illinois Revised Statutes, chap. 122, sec. 275. 

245 



246 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

attention has been called to the needs of these children more 
than once. In 1909, for example, the chief probation officer of 
the Juvenile Court said in his annual report: 

I am again forced to call attention to the truant situation in the 
suburban districts. Some time ago four boys were brought into the 
Juvenile Court, unable to read and write. Their respective ages 
were eleven, twelve, thirteen and fifteen years. That School Board 
like most school boards of suburban towns of Cook County employs 
no truant officers, and yet section 3 of An Act to Promote Attendance 
at School and to Prevent Truancy in effect July i, 1907, plainly 
states: "The Board of Education in cities, towns, and villages shall 
appoint [not may appoint] at the time of appointment or election of 
teachers each year one or more truant officers whose duty it shall be 
to report all violations of this act to said Board of Education and to 
enter complaint against and prosecute all persons who shall appear to 
be guilty of such violations." From the field of truants come many 
delinquents. Can we, as citizens, say we have done our full duty until 
we do what we can under the law to lessen the number of truants ? 

Following this report of the need of work among the truant 
and dehnquent children in the outlying towns, the Probation 
Department of the Juvenile Court began to do more work in 
those portions of the county lying outside the Chicago limits. 
And in 191 2, the chief probation officer reported with special 
reference to one suburb as follows: 

The efficiency of the Probation Work in Cook County outside of 
Chicago was increased by the purchase of a motor cycle. One of the 
gratifying pieces of work done by the motor-cycle officer was in 
stopping truancy in West Hammond in the spring of the year when so 
many of the children were in the habit of playing truant to work on 
the farms. This was done by a good deal of visiting to the public 
and parochial schools, to the farmers and to the parents of the 
children, and when necessary by prosecuting the parents in the 
West Hammond courts. Although this work was very satisfactory, 
the Chief Probation Officer feels that it should be taken care of by 
the truant officers of the local Boards of Education outside Chicago. 



TRUANCY IN THE SUBURBS 247 

It was, unfortunately, not practicable for us to undertake 
a study of the compulsory education situation in all the out- 
lying parts of Cook County, although it was believed such a 
study would be of great interest and importance. But an 
investigation of conditions in the suburban as distinct from the 
rural districts seemed to be possible, and was accordingly 
undertaken. 

With the purpose, then, of ascertaining the extent and 
character of the truancy problem in the communities near 
Chicago, an effort was made to learn the conditions prevailing 
in the thirty-three suburban centers in Cook County in which 
there were graded schools. In those communities in which 
there was a superintendent of schools, he was interviewed. 
Otherwise the information was obtained from the principals of 
the various schools. These communities, in which there were 
in all 95 schools, may be classified in four groups: (i) 15 were 
purely residential; (2) 11 had manufacturing and laboring 
populations, one of these having as many as ten large industries; 
(3) 4 were entirely agricultural; (4) 3 had a mixture of laboring 
and agricultural residents. In one town in the last group, for 
example, there were two factories employing 200 men each, 
and here the recently arrived immigrants worked, while the 
majority of the population, who were farmers, were of old 
German stock. Only 9 of these 33 communities had a pre- 
dominantly native American population, so that some of the 
so-called "residential towns" had a large immigrant element. 
The other communities had for the most part populations of 
German, Dutch, or Scandinavian descent, with perhaps a small 
colony or a few scattered families of recent immigrants. There 
were only 6 communities with a large population of recent 
immigrants from Southeastern Europe. 

The number of schools in any one community varies from 
one to ten. The number of children enrolled in school in the 
different communities varies from about one hundred to four 



248 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

thousand. Nine of the towns, three of which were residential 
and six of which were manufacturing suburbs, have over one 
thousand pupils enrolled in school. 

The schools in the different towns vary widely in character, 
from those that are saved from being old-fashioned country 
schools only by being graded to those that have model equip- 
ment, a well-trained staff of teachers, and various modifications 
of the most modern methods of teaching. These differences 
expressed themselves in the buildings as well as in equipment. 
The picture of one of the schoolhouses, especially badly planned, 
'has been used for years by the county superintendent as a 
horrible example showing what not to build. This particular 
schoolhouse was put up by a school board composed of farmers 
who knew nothing about proper school buildings, but its defects 
have been in some measure overcome since some intelligent 
women have become members of the board. In spite of im- 
provements, however, the school still remains a model warn- 
ing. In contrast to this situation, another suburb has a group 
of good school buildings with excellent playgrounds recently 
equipped and adapted for use after school hours. The same 
variation is shown in the manual-training equipment and 
instruction. Twenty-one schools have manual training in the 
sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, with special teachers and 
good equipment, and of these, five have handwork in all the 
other grades as well; three have handwork of some kind in a 
few grades as, for example, basket-making, or leather work 
before Christmas time, or a little pottery work; and nine have 
no manual training nor handwork of any kind. Several of 
the principals expressed their disapproval of these so-called 
"frills"; one, for example, whose school had a very superior 
equipment, said that the more he had the less he liked it, and 
that basket-making, paper-rolhng, and even bookbinding had 
no place in the public schools. A superintendent said that he 
did not beUeve in putting such things in just because other 



TRUANCY IN THE SUBURBS 249 

schools were doing it. Nevertheless, the majority of those 
who have no provision for work of this kind spoke of the lack 
with regret. 

In none of the schools is there work that is really vocational. 
A few of the principals think that their domestic science and 
cooking might well be called vocational, since it does fit some 
of the pupils for wage-earning ; and two principals claimed that 
their manual- training work was "pre-vocational," because it 
gave the boys a good knowledge of the use of tools, which helped 
them to know what they could do best. One superintendent 
reported that he was doing some personal vocational work with 
the boys who have to work outside of school hours, and with 
those who must leave school at the minimum age in order to 
work. These boys are placed with the business men of the 
town through the superintendent's efforts and are supervised 
so far as is possible. 

With this general view of the communities in mind, the 
truancy situation in the suburbs may be described as follows: 
(i) in ten towns the truancy problem is present and recognized, 
and adequate provision is made for handling it; (2) in three 
towns the problem is present and recognized, but the provisions 
for handhng it are inadequate; (3) in fourteen towns the prob- 
lem is small or totally absent, but a truant officer has been 
appointed in compliance with the law; (4) in two towns the 
problem is present but unrecognized by the school authorities 
who have made no provision for dealing with it; (5) in four 
towns there is no problem — no truant officer is needed and none 
has been provided. 

The general method of dealing with truants in the first 
group of towns is as follows. The superintendent's secretary 
collects from the teachers, either personally in the main build- 
ing or by telephone from the other schools, the names of pupils 
whose absences the teacher thinks should be investigated. 
These names are telephoned to the truant officer, who does not 



250 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

start out on his rounds until he has a report from each school. 
In one of the larger towns, where the truant officer gives full 
time to the work, he visits the child's home on the first day of 
absence, unless a note of excuse was brought on the preceding 
day. Eight of the towns in this group have truant officers who 
are also probation officers of the Juvenile Court, and of the other 
two, one is a town in which the chief of police acts also as a 
truant officer, and in the other the truant officer has no other 
employment. Three towns which are very near to each 
other have the same truant officer who is also a probation 
officer. Two of these towns are in the same district and have 
had this same officer for some time, while the third town has 
recently begun to employ him to handle the cases from their 
school, paying him a two-dollar fee for each case on which he 
makes a report. This arrangement has been found to be very 
satisfactory, as their problem is small at present, and the truant 
officer's famiharity with the whole district helps to make his 
work effective. 

In two of the three towns in the next group the school 
janitors are the truant officers and have proved most unsatis- 
factory. In the third town, with a large immigrant population, 
the truant officer is the chief of police, whose duties take him 
out of town so frequently that a boy may stay out of school 
and return before the truant officer gets the case. In all these 
cases the superintendent or principal has practically assumed 
the responsibility of investigating the causes of absences and 
returning the child to school. 

In the third group of towns, those in which there is a truant 
officer provided although there is httle truancy, the principal 
or superintendent notifies the truant officer when his services 
are needed, and on the whole he is kept sufficiently busy. When 
the daily attendance is taken in the morning, any suspicious 
absences are reported to the principal, who in turn reports to 
the truant officer. If it is a case in which the parent does not 



TRUANCY IN THE SUBURBS 251 

know of the child's absence, the child is usually returned by the 
parent at once; and if it is the fault of the parents, the law- 
is explained and the principal's intention to enforce it is made 
clear, which is usually sufficient. 

The three groups of towns in which there is some provision 
for handhng truancy include twenty-seven of the thirty-three 
suburbs which were visited. It is of importance, however, to 
note that only four of the twenty-seven truant officers employed 
by these towns give their full time to the work, while the other 
twenty-three officers have other occupations and give only as 
much time as the conditions seem to require. Their other 
occupations were varied: six held the position of chief of police 
or village marshal; three were railroad baggage clerks; one 
a post-office clerk; two were housekeepers; five were janitors; 
one a paper-hanger; one a gymnasium assistant; one a city 
superintendent of buildings; one a merchant; one a school 
principal and one a superintendent. In one town which has 
four schools the principal of each is appointed truant officer. 
The superintendent explained that, if there were really a prob- 
lem, this arrangement would be very cumbersome, but it is done 
merely to conform to statutory requirements. 

In the fourth group are two towns in which the services of 
truant officers are obviously needed, but the school authorities 
profess to think conditions are satisfactory. In one town, the 
superintendent understands that there are some ten or twelve 
children who have never been in school and are just running the 
streets, "growing up like Topsy," as he expressed it. A truant 
officer could, however, be of no service because, on account 
of the political situation no attempt to get the children into 
school would succeed. The superintendent explained that 
the political situation made things difficult, that the board 
would not back him in getting these children into school, and 
that according to the law he could not do it without the board's 
support. Because of what he called " that curse of the school 



252 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

districts in the country," the required annual school elections 
with the resulting lack of permanency of the teachers, the super- 
intendent could not afford to antagonize the school board who 
elected him, and the people who elect the school board. The 
people would resent an attempt to force the children into school, 
and the results might be disastrous to the teaching force if he 
asked to have it done. 

In the other town, the principal considers truancy a real 
menace and would like to have a truant officer, but feels that 
it would be unsatisfactory, as the officer would undoubtedly 
be controlled by "local politics." He asked the investigator 
not to mention to any of the teachers why she had come to the 
school as he wished to give them the impression that she was 
a county truant officer, "which might tone up the school attend- 
ance a little." Here the problem is one of irregularity of attend- 
ance because of poverty or indifference on the part of the 
parents, rather than from wilful or incorrigible conduct on the 
part of the children. 

In the last group of towns the school principals thought that 
truant officers would be superfluous. One of these principals 
stated that he understood that the compulsory education law 
made the appointing of a truant officer mandatory, but as there 
never had been the slightest need for one, none had been 
appointed. In another town, the schoolhouse has become very 
small — much too small — and a new one is being built. The 
principal said that his problem was to find room for those who 
come, and since "every last child in town comes," no attendance 
officer seemed necessary. 

Since records of the number of truant children are kept in 
seven towns only, it is impossible to discuss the extent of 
truancy and non-attendance in the suburbs. In six of these 
seven towns the truant officer was also probation officer and the 
records were kept in connection with the court work. In the 
seventh town the truant officer was chief of police. In none 



TRUANCY IN THE SUBURBS 253 

of these cases were the records in the hands of the principal or 
superintendent. One school has just started a method of keep- 
ing the records that will be valuable in the future. In this case 
teachers send to the superintendent the names of children whose 
absences should be investigated. A card is made out and sent 
to the truant officer. He investigates, takes the necessary 
action in behalf of the child, fills out the rest of the card, and 
returns it to the superintendent for filing. The principals of 
two other schools had no methods of keeping records that would 
show the number of truancies. One of these declared that they 
kept no record of truancy, as they tried to forget it. He has, 
however, a set of record cards in his office, one for each pupil, 
with space for ten years' entries, and every time the pupil is 
sent to him for any reason an entry is made on the card, and 
this forms a complete record of his interviews with that child. 
In another town the causes of absences are carefully recorded by 
the superintendent as a precaution against contagious diseases. 

But in the majority of cases the daily attendance books are 
the only records available. These books usually show the 
number of unexcused absences, although in most cases there is 
no record of the result of the officer's investigation or of whether 
or not he returned the child to school. Most of the principals 
repHed in answer to a question regarding the number of cases 
of truancy in the school during a year as follows: "Not more 
than ten"; "About four"; "Five would cover it"; "Under 
ten"; "Perhaps twenty"; and so on. Accurate figures were 
obtained for three schools from truant officers who were proba- 
tion officers as well. 

In the suburbs, as in Chicago, the problem of truancy has 
several aspects. In these small towns as well as in the great 
neighboring city, non-attendance caused by children being kept 
at home to work is a greater evil than truancy. In the agricul- 
tural towns, boys are kept at home to work on the farms in the 
spring, and in the manufacturing towns girls and boys both are 



254 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

kept at home to help with the washing and the care of younger 
children. One principal had just reported to the truant officer 
a case of a twelve-year-old boy who had been out of school for 
several days. The principal had heard that he had gone off 
to work for his brother on a near-by farm. In another town, the 
greatest trouble comes once a month on "market day," when 
a great many farmers keep their children out of school. The 
superintendent was trying an arrangement that allows children 
who sell at the market to be excused for the latter half of the 
morning session on market day. 

In sixteen towns the principals report that constant vigilance 
is needed to prevent parents from taking their children out of 
school before they reach working age. In two towns, this 
problem has been solved by persuading the most important of 
the local employers not to employ children until they have 
secured the proper papers. Two principals, however, report 
cases where boys, because of extreme poverty, have been taken 
out of school a few months before they reached fourteen, and 
in both cases this was sanctioned by the principal, although it 
was, of course, in open violation of the law. 

In the suburbs, there are perhaps more of the old-fashioned 
cases of truancy than in Chicago. Six boys sometimes decide 
that it is a good day in the timber, or go out swimming in June, 
or go off to a baseball game in the next town, or, when there is 
an epidemic of measles, a few of the unafflicted ones stay out. 
Such cases as these are reported from the towns where there is 
either no truant officer or one who is seldom used, and the 
matter is treated very informally. In one case, for example, 
the village marshal is sent after truant boys and in the case of 
boys who went to the ball game, the superintendent reported 
that he had settled the difficulty by giving them "a, sound 
thrashing." 

The problem of children being kept out of school for lack of 
clothes is not recognized as serious. Fourteen principals 



TRUANCY IN THE SUBURBS 255 

reported that no cases have come to their notice, and sixteen 
principals said that the charitable organizations of the towns 
are efl&cient enough to handle such cases promptly. In six 
towns there are charity organization societies. In one of these 
the principal is president of the charity organization board, and 
in another the truant officer is a member of the board. In four 
towns, the churches and teachers combine to take care of cases 
of absence if due to lack of clothing ; in one town there is a strong 
parent-teachers' association which provides for such cases; and 
in two others the woman's club does the work systematically. 
In one residential suburb a children's aid society and a visiting 
nurse provide such help as is needed, and in another suburb 
benevolent famiUes are supposed to supply the needs. In still 
another town cases of poverty are referred to the outdoor relief 
authority. In this town books are supplied free when necessary 
from the funds paid to the township by non-resident pupils. 
In only three towns did the principal report that there was no 
way of providing for cases of children kept at home because of 
poverty. 

In the outlying towns, as in the city, it has been found that 
one satisfactory method of getting children back into school, 
when they are out unnecessarily, is through prosecution or a 
threat to prosecute. Nine different school districts have prose- 
cuted parents under the compulsory education law. All these 
cases were heard in the justice's court of the town, and in all 
cases the school authorities were successful. In only one in- 
stance was the fine more than $5 and costs, and in nearly all the 
cases the fine was suspended during the regular attendance of 
the child. The one exception to the $5 fine was one of $20, but 
this, too, was suspended. In six other towns the school authori- 
ties have threatened parents with prosecution, and found the 
threat entirely sufficient to bring the unruly parents to terms. 
The superintendent of schools in one town with a large immi- 
grant population says that he does not prosecute as much as he 



256 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

might; that he feels that the money that would be required for 
fines is best left in the families, and that prosecution is a weapon 
more effective if used judiciously. He prosecutes when he 
thinks the prosecution will have an educational influence on 
a certain group of parents, and he finds it successful whenever 
used as a last resort. The school which has been mentioned 
before as having political difficulties in stopping truancy finds 
the prosecution of parents absolutely impossible, since it is 
feared that the usually numerous relatives and friends of the 
father prosecuted would form an alliance and elect some of their 
number to the board, and would either force the superintendent 
out or eliminate some of his best teachers! 

The Juvenile Court is resorted to largely by those sixteen 
schools that have either truant officers who are probation 
officers as well, or progressive principals. Some of the schools 
do not seem to realize that they can use the court. In fact, one 
principal, when the court was mentioned, remarked that his 
district was not within the city limits. 

Most of the officers who have used the court say that they 
can usually deal with truancy cases themselves and prevent 
the truant from becoming delinquent, but when it is necessary 
to remove the child from the homiC because of extreme neglect, 
the child is brought into court as dependent. Since there is 
no parental school to which truant children from the suburban 
and rural districts can be committed, the greatest number of 
these truant children seem to have been sent to Glenwood, an 
institution for dependent boys, organized under the Industrial 
Schools Act. 

Concerning the methods of ascertaining whether all children 
of school age are actually in school, no one of the principals 
interviewed was satisfied with the method he had worked out. 
Several arguments were offered, however, to show that in spite of 
the fact that the methods were unsatisfactory, the probability of 
there being any children unenrolled was small. The principal 



TRUANCY IN THE SUBURBS 257 

of one of the largest schools said that he had been in the habit 
of going to real estate men for the names of new families, but he 
always found that the truant officer already had the names of 
the children. Other principals offered such explanations as the 
following: "Policemen on beats report all new children." 
"Principal knows town so well that he feels sure it would be 
impossible for a family to escape his notice." Those towns that 
have efficient truant officers depend on them to search out new 
arrivals of school age; in three towns a school census is taken 
by the principal himself, but the majority of the towns feel that 
they can depend on the school children reporting new arrivals 
or on the fact that the town is so small that no child could grow 
to school age and not be known and no new families could come 
in without being noticed. 

Strange as it may seem, however, after these expressions of 
confidence, fifteen of the principals said that they had found 
cases of children unenrolled who ought to have been in school. 
The principals in several of the residential suburbs explained 
that this had been due merely to delays connected with the 
adjustment of the family to its new surroundings. There was 
one case, however, of a boy who was run over by an automobile 
in Chicago, whose family kept him out of school six months 
while the case was being settled, although he seemed well 
enough to attend. This condition was corrected when the 
principal mailed them a private copy of the school law. Another 
case of an unenrolled child was reported by the father, who dis- 
approved of the mother's teaching him at home. One principal 
complained of the influence of politics; he said he had heard 
that there were in the town some ten or twelve children 
who had never been in school, some Swedish, some Polish, 
some Italian, and a few Americans; but according to the 
principal there was nothing for him to do, since he considers 
it a school-board problem and the school board refuses 
to act. 



25S TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Another principal states that very often famihes move out 
from Chicago because they wish to avoid sending their children 
to school. The families frequently manage to evade the teach- 
ers for two or three months, and their children are very irregular 
in attendance after being compelled to enter school. One 
principal said that he thought the presence of the parochial 
school in town made it hard to tell whether all the children were 
really in school or not. Parents sometimes claim that children 
are in the parochial school when in reality they are for the time 
being not in any school at all. 

In one town with an excellent school system the local Parent 
Teachers' Association made a complete census of the mothers of 
the district a few years ago and continued systematically to add 
any new ones who moved into town. This association makes 
the enrolment of all children in school one of its special aims. 
One principal is trying to work out a better method of enforcing 
the compulsory law, and thinks that co-operation between the 
town authorities and the school on this point is essential. In 
one town which has a single large industry employing nearly all 
the wage-earners in the population a rather unique system 
of control has developed. The manager of the manufacturing 
plant is also president of the school board; and in his dual 
capacity of employer and school official, it is claimed that he is 
very effective in keeping watch on the increase in population and 
vigilantly enforcing the compulsory education law. 

Undoubtedly these thirty-three towns, because of their 
proximity to Chicago, have felt the influence of city methods 
and are farther advanced than a corresponding number of towns 
in central or southern lUinois would be if a similar investigation 
could be carried on in these districts. Such a situation can only 
be regarded as extremely unsatisfactory. State control over the 
local authorities, in this matter, must undoubtedly come about 
before the compulsory education law will really be enforced. 
In the matter of the enforcement of the factory acts and the 
child-labor law, state inspectors are provided in order that 



TRUANCY IN THE SUBURBS 259 

local influences shall not interfere with the operation of the 
law. Until some measure of state control is provided, the com- 
pulsory education law will remain a dead letter wherever the 
local authorities do not wish to provide for its enforcement. 

In conclusion it may be said that the enforcement of the 
compulsory education law in the outlying towns in Cook County 
seems to depend entirely upon the intelligence, courage, and 
energy of the individual school officials. Some of these men 
take no interest in the question, and others do not know what 
should be done to correct unsatisfactory conditions that are 
known to exist. 

The same thing is of course true of other portions of the 
state. It would have been interesting to make a study of 
truancy and the enforcement of the compulsory education law 
in all school districts in the state. And at the beginning of our 
investigation a letter was addressed to the state superintendent ■ 
asking for information with regard to the appointment of truant 
officers and the enforcement of the attendance law throughout 
the state. The following extract from his courteous and 
optimistic reply is of interest: 

Section 275, school law of 1909, provides that the board of edu- 
cation or the board of school directors, as the case may be, shall 
appoint at the time of the election of teachers, one or more truant 
ofi&cers whose duty it shall be to report all violation of the law and 
to enter a complaint against and prosecute all persons who shall 
appear to be guilty of such violation. So far as this office is advised 
truant officers are appointed in all or nearly all of the districts of 
this state. They are certainly appointed in the districts where their 
services are needed. No report is made of districts making or failing 
to make such appointments. I can say, however, that this law is 
being rigidly enforced with splendid results. This office lends all 
the assistance it can in this particular matter. 

As no summary of the methods of enforcement in the various 
districts was to be obtained from the office of the state super- 



26o TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

intendent and as it was impracticable to make a study of condi- 
tions either in other cities or in rural districts, a letter was sent 
to the secretary of the board of education in each of the prin- 
cipal cities of the state and to the clerk of the court in each 
county, asking for information concerning the methods of pre- 
venting truancy and non-attendance. The letter inquired 
whether there was a juvenile court in the county, and, if so, to 
what extent it concerned itself with truancy, whether truant 
officers were appointed, and how; and to what extent truancy 
was dealt with in the schools. 

Replies were received from each of the eleven cities in 
Illinois, not including Chicago, that had in 1910 a population 
of over 25,000, and from four other cities having a population of 
over 20,000. All these cities have truant officers, and in three 
of them there was more than one truant officer employed. In 
some of the cities, however, the officer gave only part time to 
this work. For example, in one city the functions of the truant 
officer are assigned to a city missionary. With very few excep- 
tions, the letters which came, sometimes from the secretary 
of the board of education, sometimes from the superintendent, 
and sometimes from the truant officer himself, stated that the 
compulsory education law was well enforced and that there 
was very little difficulty in handling truancy cases. Such state- 
ments as the following were received: "The amount of truancy 
is very small, due to the official organization to prevent it and 
the interest of the children in the work of the school"; "When- 
ever a suspected case occurs, the officer is informed at once and 
it usually takes but a few minutes to find the absentee and to 
land him in the school room"; "By careful systematic work 
children are uniformly kept in school"; "It is our purpose to 
reduce truancy to a minimum and we are succeeding pretty 
well in bringing it about." 

In one of the largest cities of the state, the officer reported 
that of 2,314 cases handled, only 58 proved to be truants. Her 



TRUANCY IN THE SUBURBS 261 

method of procedure was as follows: With few exceptions the 
cases of absentees were reached and investigated within twenty- 
four hours of the time they were reported. Sometimes it was 
longer before action could be taken, as the people might not be 
at home when the call was made. Where the officers were sure 
that the address was correct, a note was left for the parents. 
This often resulted in a speedy return of the child to its place in 
school; or the parents would come to the office to confer with 
the officials concerning the case. It had not been necessary 
to impose any fines during the year. An explanation of the 
law to the parents, ''showing the harm they were doing to the 
school, and the disgrace they were bringing on themselves as 
violators of the law, and reasoning with them, would lead them 
to see the right and to do it." "In each instance," the officer 
said, "the requirements of the law have been fuUy met, with- 
out hardship to any of the parties concerned, and all have been 
left in a friendly attitude of co-operation for the future, which 
was a greater victory than a fine would have gained." 

In another city where 1,567 cases were handled, 144 were 
truants. Here the truant officer, working in co-operation with 
the Humane Society, the Ladies' Aid Society, the factory 
inspector and the Health Department, did much work beside 
the investigation of the absences of children. 

In the community in which the truant officer is also city 
missionary there is a city policewoman who writes of the situa- 
tion as follows : 

The work of the city missionary is under the philanthropic 
department of the Woman's Club, and was for five years combined 
with that of police matron in order to establish that much needed 
position. Now it is combined with the truant officer and the two 

kinds of duties will work very nicely together We haven't 

got a Juvenile Court in our county, but our County Judge has the 
same privilege as a juvenile court, and we all co-operate in this work. 
Taking up the police work was a big help in this line. I look after 



262 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

repeaters and find out the cause; if it is defective eyes, or nose, or 
ear, or home environments, have the children attended to according 
to their needs. If the parents cannot afford it, we see that it is 
attended to, and here is where the doctors have always co-operated 
with us. While we have always done truant work, before, it was just 
where I ran across it in my policewoman work, or as city missionary. 

In these three cities, at least, the truant officers are attempt- 
ing a work much broader than the mere insistence that children 
should be at their places in school, and are making a real efJort 
to get at the causes of truancy and non-attendance and to 
remove them. 

Five of the cities reported that they had juvenile courts, 
which could be called upon to deal with "the bad cases of 
truancy." In one of the cities, the court is said to be "more 
for the purpose of scaring the parents and children than for 
taking any action." The truant officer in one city turns over 
cases which must be brought into court, to the probation officer. 
Truant children are said to be occasionally sent by the court to 
the reform schools at Geneva or St. Charles. 

Since answers were received from only 26 of the 102 counties 
of Illinois, it is not possible to draw many general conclusions 
as to the methods of dealing with truancy in the state. Of the 
26 counties reporting, 12 have truant officers in the towns. In 
other cases, truancy is dealt with by the superintendent of the 
school, or by some of the school authorities, and in one or two 
cases by the county probation officer. Four counties report 
that they have practically no problem of truancy; three others 
are dissatisfied with the enforcement of the law, but have found 
no effective way of bettering it. The report from one of these 
counties is as follows: "Compulsory school laws not enforced 
to any great extent; superintendent of schools is trying to secure 
a truant officer for the schools of the county seat; attendance 
is not as regular as it should be." One county in the southern 
part of the state says that the law is not enforced to any extent, 



TRUANCY IN THE SUBURBS 263 

although "sometimes the janitor of the schoolhouse gets after 
truants and gives them a scare." Obviously, a state standard- 
izing agency would uncover many districts in which the attend- 
ance at school of children within the ages prescribed by law 
could be made both more universal and more regular.'' 

The possibilities of increased efficiency in a centralized 
agency are disclosed in the Report of the New York State Edu- 
cation Department for the Year igis, in which it is pointed out 
that the power to withhold the allowance of the school fund from 
districts in which the child labor and school attendance laws 
are not enforced may be regarded as a powerful lever with 
which to raise the standard of their enforcement. For example, 
in seventeen districts, as much as one-half the school moneys 
apportioned in 191 1 was withheld, and such pressure as that 
cannot long be withstood. 

' See also the succeeding chapter, pp. 270-76, for further information 
regarding the enforcement of the compulsory attendance outside of Chicago. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
THE SPECIAL PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 

The importance of the compulsory education law as a means 
of help and protection to the immigrant family cannot be over- 
estimated. Moreover, in a state like Illinois and in a great city 
like Chicago, in which the vast majority of the inhabitants are 
immigrants or the children of immigrants, a compulsory edu- 
cation law is indispensable as a means of safeguarding the state. 
The federal census of 1910 showed that in the population of 
Chicago 36 different nationalities or races were represented and 
that, to use round numbers, out of our 2,200,000 inhabitants, 
nearly 800,000 were foreign born and more than 900,000 others 
were the children of foreign-born parents, in contrast to the 
445,000 white Americans who are "native born of native 
parents."^ It is, moreover, important to note that out of the 
1,690,000 who are either foreign born or the children of foreign- 
born parents only about 362,000, or about 21 per cent, came 
from English-speaking countries. And yet, for the Russian, 
the Pole, the Hungarian, the Bohemian, the Bulgarian, the 
Italian, or the Greek, a knowledge of EngHsh is an indispensable 
requisite for his own protection and his ultimate achievement 
in the bewildering and complex new life into which he has come. 

It is to the public schools, obviously, that we must look for 
aid in teaching these great foreign groups not only the English 
language but the principles of government upon which our 

' The exact census figures are as follows: foreign born, 781,217; native 
born (one or both parents foreign born), 912,701; native born, native 
parents (white), 445,139; total white population 2,139,057; total popu- 
lation 2,185,283. Out of the total 1,693,918 who are foreign born or the 
children of foreign-born parents, 36 1 ,854 are from EngUsh-speaking coimtries. 

264 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 265 

democracy is based. Although it is clear that the pubHc 
schools must assist the immigrant adult' as well as the immi- 
grant child, it is with the needs of the latter and the use of the 
compulsory education law as a means of meeting these needs 
that this chapter deals. It is important, however, to note that 
large numbers of these non-Enghsh-speaking immigrants come 
from countries where education is neither free nor compulsory. 
The Report of the United States Commissioner-General of Immi- 
gration for the Year Ended June jo, 1914, showed that the 
largest number of immigrants of any single racial group admitted 
to the United States during 19 13-14 were those from the south 
of Italy, of whom 104,000, or 47 per cent of the total number 
fourteen years of age and over, were unable to read or write in 
their own language.^ 

From the point of view of the American state, the great 
problem is to help these people and their children to become 
inteUigent and useful citizens in the shortest possible time; 
from the point of view of the immigrant, the great problem is 
that of understanding and appreciating the new world of which 
he has suddenly become a part and the opportunities for which 
he has made such heavy sacrifices. But oppressed as he is by 
poverty, dreading failure, and fearing deportation, the immedi- 
ate solution of the problem as he sees it is to be able to "get 
a job" and to establish safely a new home. The advantages of 
learning EngHsh are not necessarily underestimated; but bread 
is felt to be more important than education, and the latter may 
be neglected. Fortunately, however, the immigrant soon learns 
that his earning capacity will be increased and his chances of 
getting a "job" improved if he is able to speak our language. 

' On the subject of classes for adult immigrants, see Report of the 
Massachusetts Commission on Immigration, pp. 128 ff. 

"See Table VII, "Sex, Age, Literacy, etc.," on p. 42 of the report. 
The total number of South ItaUans admitted was 251,612, and 218,676 of 
these were fourteen years of age and over. 



266 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The Americanization of the immigrant in the best sense of 
that word devolves more largely upon the public school perhaps 
than upon any other single agency; it is the public school, which 
through its Department of Compulsory Education insists that 
every newly arrived immigrant child, no matter how poor or 
how ilHterate the parents may be, shall be given the best that 
America has to give through her system of free schools. Unfor- 
tunately it is not yet recognized that the problem of getting 
these children into school at the earliest possible moment and 
of compelling them to attend with regularity is a matter that 
concerns the future welfare of the state. This point has been 
emphasized in our earher study of the Chicago Juvenile Court: 

The foreign-born residents of Chicago and of other large cities 
of the country tend to segregate themselves in separate national 
groups where, in churches and schools, and in social, fraternal, and 
national organizations, the speech, the ideals, and to some extent 
the manner of life of the mother country are zealously preserved and 
guarded. In these large foreign colonies, which lead a more or less 
isolated group life, there is therefore a problem of adaptation both 
difficult and complex; a problem which is especially perplexing in 
connection with the proper discipHne of the American-born children. 
For it should be kept in mind that the institutions of the city are 
those developed by American experience in the working out of Ameri- 
can ideals. The city government may rest for support upon the 
vote of the German, Irish, or Scandinavian colonies; but the city 
government is not German, Irish, or Scandinavian. The children 
and their parents may speak PoHsh, Hungarian, Russian or Yiddish; 
but these same children are to be trained for a civic life that has 
grown out of American experience and Anglo-Saxon tradition, 
and for an industrial life based on new world ideas of industrial 
organization. The churches in the foreign neighborhoods, as a 
means of self-preservation, may attempt to maintain the national 
language through the parochial schools; but the child who leaves the 
parochial school must be fitted into an American community life in 
which the mastery of the Enghsh tongue is not merely a necessary 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 267 

tool but the only medium through which he may share the most 
valuable products of American civilization. The community may 
rob itself when it fails to realize and appropriate the cultural con- 
tribution which may be made by these groups to the collective life 
which in the end they must help to work out; but it robs the indi- 
vidual child and the coming generation in a much greater degree 
when it fails to demand for every member of every foreign colony the 
opportunity of acquiring at the earliest possible moment the use of the 
English language and an understanding of American institutions.^ 

Unfortunately^ as yet, there exists no official machinery for 
discovering and notifying newly arrived immigrants of the 
requirements of the compulsory education law. The names 
and the ages of all the immigrant children arriving at our 
various ports of entry should be sent to the school authorities 
in the different cities, towns, or counties to which they are 
going. It would then be the first duty of the truant officer 
or other representative of the local education authority to 
inform the parents of these children that they must be imme- 
diately enrolled in school.^ If the commissioner-general of 
immigration could be persuaded to set this machinery in motion, 
the results would be valuable in many ways. The immigrant 
parents would be impressed and the neighbors reimpressed with 
the public solicitude for education. Coming, as many of these 
people do, from countries where education is denied to the poor, 
they would learn to understand their new opportunities and 
obligations. In this way it would be possible to get all the 
immigrant children enrolled in school, and to do this promptly 
before they had gone to work and lost a part of the short time 
available for school attendance. 

' The Delinquent Child and the Home, p. 55. 

' This plan has been recommended by several immigration commissions. 
See Report of the New York Commission of Immigration, p. 97, and Report 
of the Massachusetts Commission on Immigration, p. 124. The federal 
Commission on Immigration presented live volumes of statistics on children 
of immigrants in schools but made no recommendations on this point. 



268 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

At present, the children of newly arrived immigrants can, 
of course, evade the law with the greatest ease if they wish to 
do so; but fortunately the great majority of immigrants are 
eager to send their children to school, often more eager than 
many American famihes. The opportunity to give their chil- 
dren a chance at the education that they have missed has been 
one of the great factors inducing immigration to this country. 
It is clear, however, that with so many thousands of immi- 
grants there must be a very considerable number of people who 
value the certain present earnings above the problematical 
future welfare of their children. 

It has, therefore, in the past been largely a matter of acci- 
dent as to how soon the children in a newly arrived immigrant 
family came under the influence of the compulsory education 
law. If the parents understood their duties and their privileges, 
they might with directions from the neighbors enrol their 
children at once. But if they are ignorant or indifferent, it may 
be a matter of weeks or months before the children get into 
school. Sometimes they are never entered at all. 

Esther G , for example, who was born January 23, 

1901, came from Leeds, England, in 1912, at the age of twelve 
years. She did not enter school in Chicago, but as soon as she 
was fourteen she got her working certificate and applied at an 
agency for work. She had reached the seventh grade in the 
school that she attended in England. And in the two years 
of schooling to which she was entitled under the law, she could 
have been prepared for better paying work than she can obtain 
without it. She is the youngest of four children. Her brother, 
twenty-seven years old, is in England. Three sisters are 
working, earning $8, $9, and $5 a week, and the father works 
regularly, so that the family could have afforded to give her a 
high-school course. And cases like hers are less distressing than 

that of Rebecca H , who is now sixteen years of age and 

came to Chicago at the age of twelve from Russia. She had 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 269 

never attended school and did not enter the pubhc schools here. 
Before she was fourteen she went to work in an apron factory, 
where she passed as sixteen years of age and was allowed to 
work on a power machine. As a result of working two and 
a half years in the factory, she developed tuberculosis and was 
sent to a sanitarium. She left the sanitarium recently and is 
looking for "Ught work." She can neither read nor write, and 
can speak and understand very little English. She had never 
had a working certificate. 

Often, of course, these immigrant children are noticed on 
the street or in the tenement by a vigilant truant officer or some 
other alert social worker, or they are reported to the school 
principal by some neighboring child who understands that their 
absence from school is not in accord with American right and 
custom in the matter. But in the meantime, the days wasted 
are precious days. These children more than any other children 
in the country need every day at school that can be given them, 
because the children of the immigrants are also the children of 
the poor; they will have to leave school to go to work probably 
on the very earhest day that the law permits "working papers" 
to be issued to them. Most of them will never hear the English 
language spoken in their homes; their fathers and their mothers 
are many of them ilhterate, and must be, in the presence of 
their children, learners rather than teachers. With these 
children it is a matter of learning "now or never"; they will 
come in contact with few if any educational influences outside 
of the schoolroom before they go to work, and after they go to 
work they are likely to lose the little they have already learned 
unless they have made sufficient progress to have learned at 
least the EngHsh language. 

As an experiment in attempting to make some connection 
between the records of EUis Island, our largest single port of 
entry for arriving immigrants, and the education authorities, 
the Immigrants' Protective League, one of Chicago's private 



270 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

social agencies, began in 191 1 to act as a clearing-house by 
obtaining from the federal immigration authorities the names of 
all arriving children of compulsory school age who were "mani- 
fested"^ to various parts of the state of lUinois. The League 
then sent the names of these same children to the school authori- 
ties in the various localities to which the children had gone, and 
asked in return for a report as to whether or not the children 
had been placed in school. The reports showed that in a large 
number of cases the children had not been enrolled until after 
the notiiication of the school authorities by this private society. 
In a not inconsiderable number of towns no one could be 
found, neither a truant officer, superintendent of schools, nor 
member of the Board of Education, who would send back the 
reply blanks showing whether or not the children had been 
placed in school. Table XXVIII shows for a period of nearly 



TABLE XXVIII 

Result of Inquiries by Immigrants' Protective League Regarding 
School Attendance of Immigrant Children 





igii 

(10 Months) 


1Q12 


1913 


1914-1S 


Number of towns to which 

lists were sent 

Number sending replies . . . 


118 
97 


167 
69 


91 

62 


209 
139 


Percentage sending replies 

Percentage not sending 

replies 


82 
18 


41 
59 


68 
32 


67 
33 







four years (from March, 191 1, to October, 1915) the number 
of towns to which Hsts of immigrant children were sent by the 
Immigrants' Protective League and the number of towns which 
did and which did not send repHes. It will be seen that in 

' That is, listed on the ships "manifest" to the immigration authorities 
as destined for Illinois. 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 271 

a considerable number of towns varying from 18 to 59 per cent 
of the whole number of towns to which lists were sent, there was 
no representative of the local school authority who was suffi- 
ciently interested to send any reply concerning the school enrol- 
ment of these newly arrived immigrant children. The marked 
falling off in the number of towns in 19 13 and in 19 15 was due to 
the drop in immigration during those years. 

From the replies sent from the towns in which someone was 
willing to send back the reply cards, the data presented in 
Tables XXIX and XXX have been compiled showing the number 
of children arriving, the number that had been entered in school 
before the receipt of the Immigrants' Protective League notices, 
the number entered in school as a result of the sending of these 
notices, together, finally, with those who refused to enrol. 

TABLE XXIX 

Showing Number of Immigrant Children "Manifested" to 167 

Illinois Towns from March i, 191 i, to December 31, 

19x5, WITH Reports from School Authorities 

Concerning Their School Attendance 

Location of Children Number 

Children of compulsory age 821 

In school 646 

Not enrolled in school 174 

Incapacitated i 

Children not of compulsory age 138 

Children not located 305 



Total 1,264 

Table XXIX shows that during this period of slightly less 
than four years, 821 children were found of compulsory school 
age. Of these children 646, or 79 per cent, had enrolled them- 
selves in school; and 174, or 21 per cent, were not enrolled and 
presumably were not informed of their obligation to attend 



272 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

under the compulsory law until a private organization had 
notified the school authorities of their existence. 

The situation in Chicago, where the superintendent of com- 
pulsory education has co-operated most cordially with the Immi- 
grants' Protective League, is shown in Table XXX, The 

TABLE XXX 

Showing Number of Immigrant Children Manifested to 
Chicago from September 1911 to May 191 5* with 
Reports from Compulsory Education Department 
Concerning Their School Attendance 

Location of Children Number 

Children of compulsory age 3>542 

In school 2,977 

Not enrolled in school 532 

Incapacitated 33 

Children not of compulsory age 775 

Children not located 3)383 

Total 7,700 

*This table does not include the figures for the year 1913-14 and therefore covers a period 
of two years and eight months only. For the year 1913-14 no report was made to the Immi- 
grants' Protective League by the superintendent of compulsory education. 

figures show that during a period of less than three years, 532 
children were found in Chicago who were of compulsory school 
age but who were not enrolled in school until after the notices 
from the Immigrants' Protective League were received. The 
percentage of unenrolled children was smaller in Chicago than 
in the country towns — 15 per cent as compared with 21 per cent 
of all the children between seven and fourteen years of age. 
This is due no doubt to the fact that many of the smaller cities 
and towns have made no provision for enforcing the compulsory 
law. Moreover, in Chicago, where there are so many social 
agencies, some of which are devoting themselves exclusively 
to work among immigrant groups, it is to be expected that a 
smaller proportion of children would be able to escape the knowl- 
edge of their duty of attending school. On the other hand it 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 273 

should be noted that the number of children reported as "not 
located" is relatively very much higher in Chicago than in the 
other towns — 3,383 children, or 44 per cent of the whole number 
in Chicago compared with 305 children, or 24 per cent of the 
whole number in towns outside. 

In the majority of cases the school authorities reported that 
as a result of their visits the children of compulsory school age 
had been enrolled in school, but in some cases the report showed 
that the child's parents or guardian refused to comply with the 
law and that the school authorities for one reason or another 
would not or could not enforce the law. Thus, in one town 
three Scotch children, aU under fourteen, were found whose 
parents refused to send them to school. In this case the super- 
intendent said he was powerless to compel them to attend, as 
the town had no money to enforce the compulsory attendance 
law. In another town an EngKsh girl of eight was kept from 
school because her mother was ill. The truant officer reported 
that nothing could be done about the child because the uncle 
who cared for the mother and child was a reputable man who 
gave them a good home and would in time be sure to send the 
child to school. 

From another town the superintendent, replying to an 
inquiry about a family of three children, wrote that they were 
not in school, and he sent the following memorandum with 
regard to them: "Came to school a few days and had to go 
home to rid themselves of vermin. Parents absolutely refused 
to return them to school. No money to enforce compulsory 
laws. Age was misstated to emigration [sic] bureau. Deport 
them unless they agree to attend school." The assumption 
on the part of this superintendent was that the compulsory edu- 
cation laws were to be ignored by the local authorities but could 
be enforced by some "emigration bureau" by means of depor- 
tation, in spite of the fact that deportation would not be legal 
in such a case. 



274 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

In several instances children were not in school because 
there were no ''beginners' classes" for them to enter. In many 
towns these classes are formed only in the fall, and a child 
arriving during the winter or the spring must wait until the next 
fall to enter school. Since these immigrant children have at 
most so few years for school attendance and since they have so 
much to learn if they are to become useful American citizens, 
some provision should always be made for enrolling them in 
school at the earliest opportunity. Moreover, the school 
authorities are under obhgations to provide instruction for 
them if the compulsory law is complied with. 

In a number of cases it was found that the children had been 
sent illegally to work. The lists sent out by the League include 
the names and the addresses of all children under sixteen years 
of age, because in many cases it appears upon investigation 
that the children are younger than the records indicate. The 
age given by the parents on the Elhs Island "manifest" is 
increased sometimes with the hope of eluding the school author- 
ities and of putting the child to work illegally. 

In one town a thirteen-year-old Greek boy was found at work 
instead of at school, and investigation showed that he had been 
admitted to this country under bonds to attend school for two 
years. He was at once placed in school, and the superintendent 
undertook to make bimonthly reports as to his attendance and 
progress to the Bureau of Immigration at Elhs Island. 

Another working child was a German girl of twelve, who was 
kept at home to help with the housework. Her mother had 
not intended to send her to school at all, because she would that 
year have finished the common-school course in Germany, 
She was quite willing to comply with the law, however, when 
she was told that in Ilhnois the child was required to attend 
school until her fourteenth birthday. 

In one town the superintendent of schools complained that 
the parochial school authorities had in several instances issued 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 275 

working certificates to children under legal age, apparently 
without ascertaining their correct age. In one case when the 
matter was looked up and the illegaHty of the certificate was 
proved, the father had obviously given false information. 
When confronted with the facts, the father destroyed the 
certificate and made no further objection to placing the boy in 
school. In this same town a Magyar boy of thirteen was found 
working in the cotton mills. The case was reported to the 
factory inspector, who saw to it that the boy was sent to school. 
In another town a Lithuanian boy of eleven, whose parents 
claimed that he was sixteen, obtained a working certificate from 
a parochial school and got a job in a large industrial plant. 
This case also was reported to the factory inspector. In another 
case, two Finnish children, a boy of ten and a girl of seven, 
were in school but in their leisure hours were tending bar in 
their father's saloon, in violation of the provisions of the child 
labor law. 

Sometimes, of course, the family seemed not to know of their 
obHgations to send the child to school and were glad to comply 
when notified. Thus, a German boy of eleven, whose mother 
was employed in domestic service, was living with friends who 
had not thought of placing him in school; but the mother was 
glad enough to send him at once when she learned through the 
visit of the truant officer that he was expected to go. 

The importance of these visits to immigrant children is 
further indicated by the fact that a number of cases were 
reported of children who were afraid to go to school alone, but 
went gladly when escorted by the truant officer. 

Occasionally the visit of the investigator brought into school 
a child who was above the compulsory age. Thus, a Greek boy 
of fifteen was being kept out of school until he should learn 
EngUsh, and the truant ofl&cer was able to persuade his friends 
that he would acquire the desired knowledge much more quickly 
by attending school. 



276 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

It is a pleasure to record that in many cases the new immi- 
grant famihes had discovered the educational resources of the 
town without assistance and were using them to the fullest 
possible extent. Thus, one Croatian boy of fifteen had entered 
the evening as well as the day school; and a family of Austrian 
Hebrews was found in which, besides the three children in the 
day school, there were four older ones who worked in the day- 
time and were in regular attendance at night school. 

The repHes to the notices sent show that some of the per- 
sons acting as truant officers had evidently enjoyed none of the 
advantages of the compulsory system in their own youth, their 
communications being sometimes quite illiterate. Thus one 
officer who was asked to find out whether certain immigrant 
children who were "manifested" to his town had been enrolled 
in school wrote back, "There are no foren children in our 
school." In another town the clerk of the board, who evidently 
acts as truant officer, wrote very illegibly, "I Visit the School 
once Every Five Weeks, we are Looking after all Foren Born 
Children Very Clost So that they are in School all the time." 
From another town, the clerk of the board wrote with regard 
to a family of three children, "we have a good many Italians 
tending our school they tend regular the 3 you have wrote to us 
about are not in our school." 

The children most in need of protection are, of course, the 
children who are nearly fourteen years of age or who are large 
enough to pass for fourteen. To parents who are not only very 
ignorant but very poor the temptation to sacrifice the older 
children to the younger ones and to the -general family security 
is great. As we have said elsewhere these children will, unless 
their parents or guardians are promptly made to understand 
the compulsory education law, "lose what is perhaps their 
only chance of schooling and what is certainly their best 
chance of initiation into American life and their best intro- 
duction to those new conditions with which they must become 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 277 

familiar." There may be found in the records of the United 
Charities of Chicago many cases where the eldest child of 
an immigrant family has been sacrificed. For example, an 
Italian family with eight children, survivors of the Messina 
earthquake, first appHed for help at Hull-House because 
the eldest child, Chiara, who was said to be nearly sixteen 
years old, was out of work as a result of the garment workers' 
strike, and the father was also out of work. The family 
wished to buy milk for the baby on credit. The parents were 
at that time also trying to get a certificate for the thirteen- 
year-old girl, Giovanna, who was deaf and subnormal, but they 
were compelled to return the child to school. Several months 
later they tried again to get working papers for Giovanna, and 
then claimed that she was fourteen years old. The district 
office of the United Charities to whom the family had been 
referred then wrote to Messina and received a reply, saying 
that the records were not destroyed by the earthquake, and it 
was therefore possible to ascertain the correct dates of birth, 
which were given, showing that Giovanna was only twelve years 
old instead of fourteen, and that Chiara was not yet fourteen, 
although she had been working ever since the arrival of the 
family in Chicago more than two years before. 

Chiara's working certificate was then confiscated, and she 
was returned to school by order of the Department of Compul- 
sory Education, but came to Hull-House in the evening, saying 
that she could not go to school with such small children; she 
was a "great big girl and would be married soon." She had, 
of course, in these two years lost her only chance of learning 
Enghsh. She will now never learn to read. Her mother was 
very angry and said "Hull-House ladies are dreaming to send so 
old a girl to school ' ' (thirteen years, nine months) . The Messina 
records were obtained too late to do anything for Chiara, but 
they have saved the younger child, who has now had her 
tonsils removed and her deafness cured and has two years 



278 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

of schooling ahead of her. The eldest child will be as 
illiterate as her parents, and the hard part of it is that she 
will be illiterate in spite of our compulsory law and our free 
school system. 

Especially difficult are the cases of immigrant children who 
drift in from other cities and who may have lived in several 
towns without attending school in any one of them. Unless 
some system of transfers between cities can be worked out, there 
is not much hope of catching these more migratory famiUes. 
Some of them pass through the hands of social workers, but 
frequently not until it is too late to save the children. For 
example, a Polish woman appUed for help in a district office 
of the United Charities of Chicago, saying that her six children 
were freezing and her husband ill in the hospital with incurable 
heart trouble. Their story was pitiful: the man had worked 
in the sulphur mines at home and, hearing of the high wages in 
America, decided to come to this country. He came to New 
York, but was unsuccessful in finding work and then went to 
Pennsylvania, because he had heard of work in the brickyards 
there at $1 .50 a day. He had saved enough in two years to 
bring over his wife and children; but after the first year, work 
became slack, so he moved to another small town in the same 
state, and then, still unsuccessful, he went back to New York, 
where he struggled along for sixteen months, and then came to 
Chicago, where work was plentiful but for him disastrous, since 
it had led to overwork and a mortal ilhiess. The oldest 
child, Hedwig, who was not quite twelve, seemed so large 
and stout that neighbors told them to say she was fourteen 
and the child could earn money for them. When she was 
told that the little girl must leave the candy factory where 
she was working and go to school the mother refused to 
submit, and a long struggle followed to get the child in school. 
The mother claimed that the child was unwiUing to go to school 
and felt no other excuse was needed, 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 279 

Another interesting case is that of a little Italian boy, 

Joe C , one of five children. Apphcation for help was 

made at the office of the United Charities when the father was 
out of work. Joe, who was then the proud possessor of a work- 
ing certificate, could not spell his name although he could write 
it. He could neither write nor spell any other word, however 

simple. He had attended the B School in Chicago for 

one month, but he did not know what grade he had been in. 

He had been in the town of S near Chicago for about a 

year and a half and claimed that he had attended school there. 
He has not been able to "get a job" since he left school. What 
hope is there, if he does, that he will ever learn to read and write ? 

One great difiSculty in the way of educating the non-English- 
speaking immigrant child is the foreign parochial school. It 
has been pointed out that the IlUnois law permits a child to leave 
school and to go to work without knowing how to read or write 
the Enghsh language. The provision of the old compulsory 
education law of 1S89, which required children to attend schools 
in which the instruction was in English was stricken out at the 
succeeding session of the legislature through the influence of the 
sectarian schools; and at the time, the German-Lutheran schools 
of Cook County seem to have been most influential in obtain- 
ing the omission of the words "in Enghsh." 

Later, when the child labor law made provision for the grant- 
ing of working papers, it was not possible to include among the 
educational requirements that the children leaving school to go 
to work should be able to speak, read and write the Enghsh 
language. The law merely provides that the children shall be 
able to read and write simple sentences; and the additional 
words "in Enghsh," which were so much desired by those inter- 
ested in the protection of children were finally omitted from the 
law. The result has been the establishment, not only in 
Chicago but in other parts of the state, of large numbers of 
parochial schools in foreign neighborhoods in which the instruc- 



28o TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

tion is carried on in part, at least, in some language other than 
English. It has not been possible to obtain a complete list of 
these schools, but the Official Catholic Directory for igi4 shows 
that there were in that year in Chicago 23 Polish schools, 22 
German, 8 Bohemian, 5 Lithuanian, 3 French, 3 Italian, 3 
Slovak, I Belgian and i Ruthenian school maintained by 
-various Roman Catholic parishes. According to the same 
directory these 69 schools had more than 33,000 pupils enrolled 
in the year 1914.^ There were also the German-Lutheran 
schools and the schools maintained by the Greek Catholics, 
which are of course quite separate from the Roman Catholic 
schools. The amount of instruction in EngHsh that is given in 
these schools varies greatly. In some nearly all the instruction 
is in the English language and in others English seems to be 
taught only a few hours per week.^ 

Unfortunately, the easiest way to deal with any difficulty 
is to ignore it instead of trying to understand the problem that 
needs to be solved. And all phases of the parochial school ques- 
tion, including that of the biHngual schools, are usually dealt 
with in this way. Since the question is in part a religious one, 
there seems to be a feeHng that it should never be discussed. 

' This list, of course, excludes the Catholic parochial schools which are 
not especially indicated in the directory to be Polish, Bohemian, etc. The 
directory shows that there are, including the English-speaking schools, 
a total of 181 Catholic parochial schools in Chicago with 95,110 pupils 
enrolled {Official Catholic Directory for igi4 [New York: P. J. Kenedy 
& Sons], p. 74). 

= Pubhcity has been given in the Chicago papers, since the writing of 
this chapter, to an announcement indicating that there will be in the future 
more and better English teaching in the foreign-language-speaking paro- 
chial schools in the Roman Catholic diocese of Chicago. The problem of 
the foreign school, however, is not exclusively a Roman Catholic problem. 
And again it must be emphasized that this problem will not be solved until 
the teaching of English is made compulsory by a state law enforced by 
state inspectors, and until a knowledge of English is made a prerequisite for 
the issuing of working papers. 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 281 

Yet surely the question of the right of the state to insist that its 
children shall be so educated that they shall be able to under- 
stand the language of their country is an elementary one. It is 
important to note here the results of an investigation made in 
Massachusetts of the bilingual schools of that state. The com- 
pulsory education law of Massachusetts, unUke that of Illinois, 
provides that attendance at private schools will be accepted in 
compliance with the provisions of the compulsory law only when 
the local school committees shall have approved these schools, 
and such approval shall be given only "when the instruction in 
all the studies required by law is in the English language, and 
when they are satisfied that such instruction equals in thorough- 
ness and efficiency and in progress made therein, the public 
schools in the same city or town." The Massachusetts State 
Commission on Immigration, after a careful investigation of the 
bihngual schools, reported that "for obvious reasons, such as 
local influences, political expediency and in some cases indiffer- 
ence, the school committees make no pretense of fulfilling this 
obfigation and, under existing conditions, there is no prospect 
that they ever will." 

Because the subject of the bilingual school is so little dis- 
cussed and so little understood and because it has not been 
possible to make an investigation of the large number of such 
schools that exist in Chicago,' and also because there is every 
reason to beheve that a similar investigation in Chicago would 
disclose similar results here, it has seemed worth while to quote 
at some length the account of the bihngual schools given in the 
report of the Massachusetts Immigration Commission: 

' Unfortunately the exact number of such schools cannot be given. 
It has been shown that the Roman Catholic directory indicates 69 such 
schools, and it seems probable that such schools are not always designated 
and that the number is even larger. Add to these the number of German- 
Lutheran schools and the Greek Catholic schools and the number becomes 
very considerable. 



282 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The large number (over 200) of parochial schools throughout 
the State may be divided into two groups; first, those in which the 
teaching is conducted in English exclusively, and second, those in 
which some of the instruction is conducted in English and some in a 
foreign language. 

Schools of the first group were not investigated by the commis- 
sion. Like the public schools, many of these enrol children of non- 
English-speaking parentage, and like the public schools they are 
affording those children the associations and all the advantages of 
instruction that they are affording the native-born. 

In the second group, 39 schools in 19 different towns and cities 
in Massachusetts were visited. The almost universal rule in these 
schools is to teach in English for half a day, and in Polish, Italian, 
Portuguese, French or Greek for half a day. These bilingual schools, 
of which there are over 90 in Massachusetts, present a problem of 
much difficulty, involving both religious and national motives deeply 
rooted in the heart and mind of the foreign-speaking peoples, and 
entitled to sympathetic recognition by the entire community. The 
problem, moreover, includes highly important social, financial and 
economic considerations. In some instances it is being successfully 
solved. 

Teachers in all these schools have to deal with a perplexing 
situation, inasmuch as the pupils when they first enter rarely speak 
English, and in instruction precedence is given to subjects conducted 
in their native tongue. The comphcation is increased by reason of 
the fact that many of these teachers have but a limited knowledge of 
the English language; comparatively few speak it fluently, some do 
not speak it at all. Such lay teachers as are employed are, generally 
speaking, wholly unqualified. In certain schools of one nationality, 
conducted wholly by lay teachers, the instruction, discipline and 
results are a mere travesty on even rudimentary educational methods. 
Under such conditions proper progress in English or any other study 
is impossible. 

The atmosphere of any one of these schools depends mainly upon 
the attitude of the pastor of the church with which it is connected. 
While some of these pastors are thoroughly imbued with American 
ideals, the majority are of foreign birth, education and training, so 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 283 

intensely devoted to their native land that their patriotism permits 
no divided allegiance; hence any special emphasis upon the study of 
EngKsh or American traditions and ideals, which often the Superior 
in immediate charge would gladly undertake, does not enlist their 
sympathy or meet with their approval. 

Furthermore, while we have the greatest respect for the exalted 
character, disinterested service and untiring zeal of the teachers, we 
must regretfully declare that in very many cases they are not equipped 
by previous training (often excellent in their own language and 
literature), by familiarity with American civic or social ideals, or 
with the stress of modern economic pressure, to impress sympathetic- 
ally upon the understanding of their pupils the fundamental knowl- 
edge which is required alike in the interests of the State and of the 
future industrial life of the pupils themselves. In some instances 
the atmosphere is so intensely foreign that progress in acquiring 
English is deprecated rather than encouraged. 

In drawing comparisons between these and other schools the 
element of time must be considered; for as the system of parochial 
schools, and particularly of bilingual schools, is comparatively young, 
it could hardly be expected that these privately maintained schools 
should be able to make as rapid progress in the character of their 
buildings and equipment as those schools maintained by the public 
purse. 

While a large number of the school buildings are of excellent 
construction in every respect, and many may be rated as reasonably 
good, some were not originally erected for school purposes; they are 
distinctly bad in lighting and in ventilation and are positively 
injurious to the physical well-being of the children. 

The financial resources of these schools — mainly the voluntary 
offerings of poorly paid wage earners — are utterly inadequate to the 
magnitude of the work undertaken. This financial handicap may 
be regarded as the principal cause of the inability of so many of these 
schools to approach modern educational requirements in housing, 
in limiting the size of classes to reasonable numbers, in the character 
of textbooks used, or in the employment of a sufficient number of 
thoroughly efficient lay teachers to offset the scarcity of teachers of 
the religious orders. 



284 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

When we consider the comparatively inelastic character of the 
wages of the groups who support these schools, and the increasing 
cost of living, it is difficult to see how the revenues upon which these 
schools depend can be greatly enlarged 

That the knowledge of a second language has cultural advantages 
is beyond dispute, and should be encouraged, for in the history, tradi- 
tions, literature and art of the various nations there is much that 
would enrich American life. But it is not in the pursuit of culture 
that the overwhelming majority of these children are to spend their 
lives. The far more practical and far more difficult problem of 
bread-winning is the one to which — day in and day out — they wUl 
be forced to devote their unremitting attention. It is therefore of 
vital importance to them, as well as to the State, that they should be 
fitted in the best possible manner for this daily bread-and-butter 
struggle. As they succeed or fail in this they will become an asset 
or a liability of the State, for, waiving other grave possibilities, there 
inevitably will be a marked increase in dependence resulting from the 
premature physical and mental breakdown of those who, from lack 
of proper training, are forever unable to escape from the most exhaust- 
ing and the poorest-paid occupations. 

It is therefore of importance to the Commonwealth that in the 
secular instruction in these schools, the study of English should be 
given first place, and that all studies, except religion and the native 
language of the children, should be conducted in the English language. 
The study of the foreign language should be made clearly subordi- 
nate to that of English. It should be possible to follow this plan 
without serious interference with the spiritual or national motive 
of these schools.^ 

The first step that is needed to insure that English is ade- 
quately taught in the bilingual schools is to restore to the com- 
pulsory education law of Illinois the words requiring that certain 
specified parts of the teaching in private school must be "in 
English" if work in these schools is to be accepted under the 
compulsory school law. But such a provision obviously could 
not now be enforced by the local authorities in Illinois any more 

' Report of the Massachusetts Committee on Immigration, pp. 148-51. 



THE PROBLEM OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD 285 

than in Massachusetts. The only way to make such a pro- 
vision effective would be to place the supervision of these 
schools under a state educational board. To quote a concluding 
paragraph from the Massachusetts report: 

The task of gradually bringing these schools up to the desired 
standard is one calling for infinite wisdom, tact, and patience, as well 
as for clear comprehension and syxapathetic recognition of the aspi- 
rations of the people who voluntarily support them. In such a spirit 
the task should be begun at once, and plans in the best interest of all 
concerned should be worked out harmoniously. As the local school 
committees have not even attempted to perform this task, the com- 
mission recommends that this responsibility be vested in the State 
Board of Education, as provided in the bill that is submitted with 
this report. 

Another means of insuring the adequate teaching of Eng- 
lish in the private schools is to insert in the child labor law 
of Illinois a provision that no child shall be given "working 
papers until he is able to read and write simple sentences in 
English." Until the words "in English" are restored to the 
compulsory education law and added to the working-certiiicate 
provision of the child labor law, the essential first steps toward 
the Americanization of the immigrant will not and can not be 
taken. 

In the valuable Report on the Employment Certificate System 
in Connecticut recently issued by the federal Children's Bureau, 
attention is called to the failure of the Connecticut law to 
include the ability to read and write English among the edu- 
cational requirements for the issuing of employment certificates. 
The comment of the government investigators on this feature 
of the Connecticut system is as follows: 

The theory upon which it is attempted to justify this omission 
is that it must be made easy for a foreign-born child to obtain a cer- 
tificate, or else he wUl go to work without any legal protection what- 
ever. However, the problem of registering the foreign-born child 



286 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

either in school or in the certificate office has to be met in any event, 
for probably a majority of these children have not received sufficient 
education in their own language to pass the arithmetic test. This 
test is said to keep many foreign-born children in school until they 
are i6 years of age, while American children, unless mentally defective, 
can generally go to work at 14 if they wish. Certainly an unen- 
forceable provision of law is undesirable; but it does not seem 
impossible to devise methods of enforcing a law which would require 
a knowledge of the language of their adopted country by young 
wage earners.^ 

Finally, it must be pointed out that our compulsory edu- 
cation system was devised to meet the needs of American-born 
children of American parents before the problem of assimilating 
the non-English speaking immigrants or any other immigrants 
had come into existence. If compulsory education laws were 
needed for the education of the native American, they are 
doubly needed for the immigrant who today needs to learn not 
only our language, but also the principles of our democracy, if 
these principles are to endure and "the promise of American 
life" is not to be obscured. 

' Helen L. Sumner and Ethel E. Hanks, Employment Certificate System 
in Connecticut (Washington, 1915), p. 41. U.S. Department of Labor, 
Children's Bureau. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM AND THE SAFE- 
GUARDING OF THE COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 
PERIOD 

In most American states the upper age limit designated by 
the compulsory school law is the fourteenth birthday/ In 
Illinois, the compulsory period nominally extends to the six- 
teenth birthday; but since the law provides that children 
between the ages of fourteen and sixteen may be excused from 
school provided they go to work, the actual age limit here as 
in other states is really fourteen. 

The most important question to be considered with regard 
to the upper age limit of the compulsory attendance period is 
whether or not proper safeguards have been devised to prevent 
children from leaving before the fourteenth birthday has been 
reached. Since the vast majority of children who leave school 

' A useful collection of child labor laws has recently been published by 
the federal Children's Bureau (see Child Labor Legislation in the United 
States, by Sumner and Merritt). According to the digest of the compul- 
sory attendance laws given in this volume, two states are in mediaeval 
darkness and have as yet no compulsory education laws. These states are 
Georgia and Mississippi. The age limit varies in the remaining states as 
follows: the upper age limit fixed by the law is only twelve years in two 
states, Virginia and North Carolina. Texas makes the age limit fourteen, 
and Kentucky makes it sixteen; but both provide "exemptions" for 
children between twelve and fourteen, if their labor seems necessary, so 
that the age limit is really twelve rather than sixteen. In all the remaining 
states, with the exception of Ohio, the age limit is fourteen. In a consider- 
able number of these states, the nominal age limit has been raised beyond 
fourteen years, as in Illinois, where it is sixteen years; but since in all these 
states, children may be exempted for various reasons from the provisions 
of the law and allowed to leave school to go to work at fourteen, the age 

287 



288 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

on or near the fourteenth birthday are children who leave 
school to go to work, the most essential safeguard that has 
been devised to prevent an illegal withdrawal from school is to 
provide that no child may be legally employed unless he has 
been given "an age-and-school certificate." In this way it 
should be impossible for the child to find employment without 
the approval of the school authorities. 

Under the Illinois law, the age-and-school certificate must 
be issued at a place provided by the school authorities and 
either by a person designated by the superintendent of schools 
or by the principal of a parochial school. The law provides 
further that the certificate shall be granted only when satis- 
factory proof of age, such as would be afforded by a birth or 
baptismal certificate, a school census or such school records as 
would offer adequate testimony, has been produced. In the 
absence of such recorded evidence, it is required that the parents 
make oath before the Juvenile or County Court that the child 
is fourteen years of age. 

limit is really only fourteen. In Ohio, girls must attend school until they 
reach the age of sixteen, and boys until they are fifteen. Under certain 
conditions attendance may be required of boys from fifteen to sixteen. In 
general, therefore, it appears that Ohio is the only state in which the com- 
pulsory school age has been raised beyond fourteen without exemptions, 
and in six states only, including the two southern states which have no com- 
pulsory laws, is the age limit lower than fourteen years. Unfortunately, 
these state laws vary in their effectiveness since very inadequate provision 
for their enforcement exists in some of the states, particularly those in the 
South. In Florida, for example, the law is optional with each "special tax 
school district, school board district, or county," which may determine by 
an election held on petition of "one-fourth of the registered white votes" 
whether or not the law is to be operative in that particular jurisdiction. 
It is gratifying to add that since this volume went to the printer, the exi- 
gencies of the presidential campaign have led to the passage of the federal 
Child Labor bill, which, although it cannot compel the states to keep their 
children in school, can at any rate fairly effectively prohibit their going to 
work, which is of course the chief reason for the refusal to make compulsory 
education effective. 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 289 

Unfortunately, the provision in the lUinois law relating to 
working papers does not yet adequately safeguard the child's 
right to be kept in school until he reaches the age of fourteen. 
Evidence is not lacking to show that in Chicago, at the present 
time, some children who are not fourteen receive age-and-school 
certificates; and others go to work before they are fourteen 
without certificates. In fact, no system can be devised that will 
keep children in school up to the age of fourteen or any other 
age, until birth registration is really compulsory and every 
child's age is a matter of pubHc record. Without any official 
record of the child's age available, mistakes easily occur. In 
the first place, the school may have the child's age registered 
incorrectly. This may occur in several ways. There can be 
no question that many parents, who are anxious that their 
children should become wage-earners at the earliest possible 
moment, deliberately plan to evade the law and to enter 
their children at school as seven when they are only five 
or six. In such cases, when the parents claim that the child is 
fourteen and ask for his working papers, the school records 
show that the child is entitled to go to work and the age-and- 
school certificate is issued. Sometimes the mother acts more 
innocently and enters the child as five when he is only three or 
four, in order that he may go to kindergarten and leave her free 
to work; or she enters him as seven when he is younger in order 
that he may attend the full session instead of the half-day 
session provided for younger children. If the child is not 
"restored" to his proper age before he is nominally fourteen, 
it is only too easy for him to claim his working papers. The 
woman who is most anxious to be relieved of the care of her 
children is usually the woman who is obHged to go out to work 
because of the death, desertion, or delinquency of her husband. 
In such cases the same pressure that leads the mother to 
register the child as seven in order to provide for his care will 
also lead her to take advantage of the opportunity to evade 



290 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

the law which this early registration has given her, and she is 
not likely to forget that she will be able to continue to deceive 
the school authorities and to get an age-and-school certificate 
for the child when he is only twelve. 

Working papers are not issued exclusively by the school 
authorities. In the section of the law dealing with "proof of 
age" it is provided that, when evidence cannot be obtained 
from "the last school census, the certificate of birth or baptism 
of such child, the register of birth of such child with a town or 
city clerk, or by the records of the public or parochial schools, 
.... in cases wherein the above proof is not obtainable, 
the parent or guardian of the child shall make oath before the 
Juvenile or County Court as to the age of such child and the 
court may issue to such child an age certificate as sworn to." 
In Chicago, such certificates were issued for ten years in the 
County Court, and a very considerable number of children each 
year obtained certificates by means of a false affidavit from their 
parents. There can be no question regarding the purpose of 
this provision. It was intended to provide for the cases of 
famiHes which had recently arrived in Chicago with children 
fourteen or fifteen years old who could not get certificates from 
the Chicago schools. Such children should, of course, be made 
to produce some evidence of age; thus children from other cities 
could obtain a statement from the last school attended; immi- 
grant children could show their passport, or, still better, copies 
of their birth records might be obtained. But the baihfi of the 
County Court was obviously too busy to give the time needed 
for such details; other business seems more pressing, detailed 
inquiries regarding proof of age seem impossible, and the general 
method had been to issue the certificate and to get rid of the 
weeping family. The situation was improved when the Illinois 
Consumers' League placed a special investigator at the service 
of the court, but in the necessary absence of the investigator 
from court, the bailiff continued to issue certificates on affidavits. 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 291 

Such was the situation when this investigation was undertaken. 
Some months later, however, when the Juvenile Court was 
moved from the West Side to the building in which the County 
Court sits, it was possible to persuade the county judge that 
rendering this service for children fell more properly within the 
scope and the purpose of the Juvenile Court and that the 
children could easily be sent up to that court. The change 
has been most beneficial. A skilled investigator has been in 
charge of all the applicants for such certificates, a thorough 
search for some record of the child's age is made, and until such 
record can be found the certificate is withheld. 

In a large city like Chicago that is fortunate enough to have 
a good charity organization society many cases of working 
papers obtained for children under fourteen will be discovered 
through the rehef records. When a family first applies for 
help the dates of birth of all the children are carefully entered 
in the "case record," and it is not easy at this time to give 
incorrect ages. Moreover, the younger the children are, the 
more appeahng is the distress of the appHcants, and therefore 
there is every reason why the age should not be overstated. 
Later, when one of the children goes to work illegally, a resource- 
ful charity visitor in the neighborhood may, as a result of sus- 
picion aroused by the old record, succeed in finding the evidence 
that will serve to return the child to school. Many examples 
of work of this kind may be found in the district offices of the 
United Charities of Chicago. Thus, in one district, an Italian 
family that appHed for help in 1909 said that their youngest 
child was ten years old and gave a date of birth which 
properly related to the dates given for the older children in 
the family. Two years later, the youngest child, then twelve 
years old according to the case record, came into the ofl&ce 
with an age-and-school certificate and asked that someone 
help her to find work. She had already been working in a box 
factory for several weeks, earning $2.50 a week, but she said 



292 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

that she did not get on very well and had been told that she 
was too slow. The child had attended four different public 
schools in Chicago and one parochial school, and an age-and- 
school certificate had finally been issued from the parochial 
school. She had attended school very irregularly, and the date 
of her birth had been given differently in each school. The 
agent of the charity organization society noted that the record 
showed that the family had moved to Chicago from Omaha, 
where all the children had been born. A visit to the mother 
gave the name of the church in Omaha where the children had 
been baptized; and a letter to the secretary of a similar agency 
in Omaha, asking that the church be located and copies 
of the baptismal record be obtained, brought back proof that 
the child was only twelve years old. The factory inspector was 
notified, and the age-and-school certificate withdrawn, and the 
child was returned to school under the supervision of the 
Department of Compulsory Education. It is important to 
note, however, that this violation of the compulsory law was 
discovered through a private agency and almost by accident 
and that the proof of age which brought about the return of the 
child to school was secured by the same private agency. There 
must, of course, be many similar cases in which the unfortunate 
child continues at work. 

Sometimes, in fact, the children distinguish between their 
"working age " and their "real age." And the fact that evasions 
of the law like those described are not exceptional was indicated 
by a search through the records of some of the other district 
offices of the same society, which brought to light similar cases 
of the issuance of age-and-school certificates because the 
child's age had been incorrectly given at school and no other 
record was easily available. The social worker, however, who is 
accustomed to searching for such facts is often more resourceful 
in the face of what seems to be a blank wall than the public 
official accustomed to a less difficult routine existence. The 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 293 

public official, moreover, is handicapped by the fact that he 
must accept the information which the law defines as affording 
"evidence" of age and he is given no authority to determine by 
tedious inquiry from outside sources the quality of the evidence 
that is offered. 

Other cases similar to the one given might be cited. In one 
case in which a family had applied for help in 191 1, a visitor 
calling at the house a few months later found that the boy whose 
age had been given as twelve had gone to work. It was dis- 
covered that the age given by the child at school was different 
from the age given by the mother in the charity office, and it 
was also learned that the family had lived in Chicago for eleven 
years and that the boy had been born and baptized in Denver. 
A letter to the Denver charity organization office brought a 
copy of the baptismal register showing that the mother had given 
the correct age in the office and the wrong age both in the school 
and at the age-and-school certificate bureau. When the mother 
was seen again, she said that she had given his age incorrectly 
because she was tired of helping him and wanted him to help 
her. She explained, however, that she was much "put out" 
to find that the boy did not "keep his jobs" after she had 
got a certificate for him, but loafed and hung about cheap 
theaters instead. To avoid a return to school, the boy then ran 
away from home, but was found by the Department of Com- 
pulsory Education and placed in the Parental School. 

There is also the interesting case of Rosie L , a little 

Italian girl for whom a scholarship has now been provided so 
that she may learn dressmaking in the Hull-House Trade School. 
Rosie was fourteen years old on January 15, 1916, but she left 
school to go to work in January, 19 14. When asked how she 
got her certificate, she said that she had told the sister in the 
parochial school that she was fourteen and had got her school 
certificate in this way. The little girl is the eldest of seven 
children, all of whom are still under school age, and she felt that 



294 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

she ought to help her mother because her father was dead. 
The work history of this child, who was just fourteen years of 
age, was traced as follows. She left school at the age of twelve 
and had been "fitter and packer" in a large shipping department 
for six months, but she found the work so hard and she had to 
carry such heavy packages that she left when she was told 
that she could get lighter work in a bookbindery. The bindery 
job lasted only two weeks, however, and she was then laid off 
and went back to her first position again and worked there nine 
months longer. She then was told, evidently by a child work- 
ing in the same place, that she could earn more money if she 
claimed to be sixteen. She then got a position in a printing 
establishment and did earn very good wages indeed by claiming 
to be sixteen years old, although she was not yet fourteen. 
When she was laid off, however, she did not find it so easy to 
get work again and conditions at home with no other wage- 
earner in the family were very hard indeed, so that Rosie finally 
apphed to a neighboring settlement for help in finding work, 
an apphcation which has finally placed her in the way of learn- 
ing a trade. 

Sometimes the children are put to work without any papers. 
There are always to be found a few employers who are wiUing 
to take the risk of being discovered by the factory inspector. 
These are usually the heads of estabhshments in which there is 
difficulty in getting "help" because of undesirable conditions of 
work, and it is, of course, a double misfortune that a child 
should not only lose the minimum of schooling that is his due 
but also begin his working-life under the worst possible condi- 
tions. It is also a serious matter that in such cases the child 
leaves school and goes to work, conscious of the fact that his 
parents have sworn falsely as to his age and that he will, if he 
succeeds in evading the law, have to lie to the factory inspectors 
from time to time as he has probably already lied to his teacher 
and his principal. 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 295 

A serious defect in the law which makes it easier for children 
to work without certificates is the fact that no certificate or 
proof of age is required of the child over sixteen years of age. 
It is therefore possible for a fairly well-grown child who may 
not even be fourteen to claim to be sixteen and to obtain employ- 
ment in industries and under conditions prohibited by the 
child labor law for children under sixteen. In fact, the child 
under fourteen may simply disappear from the school records 
and forfeit in this way several months or even years of the 
required period of schooling. 

The only remedy for this situation is an amendment to the 
child labor law requiring all minors to have certificates. Such 
a provision is necessary for the protection of employers as well 
as for the children. Careful employers may protect themselves 
by looking at the child's old certificate if it has not been 
destroyed, but this is the only protection. It is true, of course, 
that children who are exceptionally small for their age cannot 
claim to be older than they are, but children "large for their 
age" and even those of normal size are able to defeat the 
compulsory law simply by going to work without working 
papers. 

The case of Mary G is a typical one. Mary applied 

for assistance in finding work at the office of a social agency, 
saying that she had just passed her sixteenth birthday, 
that she had worked five months in one laundry, feeding a 
mangle. She had then worked in another laundry, also feed- 
ing a mangle. After this she had worked in several depart- 
ment stores. She was questioned with regard to her work 
on the mangle, which is classified as one of the "dangerous 
occupations" prohibited by the child labor law for children 
under sixteen, and she said in reply that she had told the boss 
that she was sixteen because she had been told that girls 
under sixteen could not find work. She admitted that she 
had never obtained an age-and-school certificate, but she 



296 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

claimed that she had not left school until the day she was 
fourteen, had found it easy to get a job in a laundry, and 
just went to work and worked until she got sick. Her illness 
caused her to leave her work in the second laundry. When 
the school that she had last attended was visited, the prin- 
cipal of the school merely said that they had ''simply lost 
track of her." The school records showed that Mary was 
born April 17, 1899; and as she had gone to work in June, 
191 1, she had therefore left school when only twelve and had 
lost two whole years of the schooling to which the law entitled 
her. Her home was visited, and the child then admitted 
that she had gone to work when she was only twelve against 
her family's wishes, but since she found it perfectly easy to get 
a job she saw no reason why she should not do so. The girl 
had no father, but an older brother (aged eighteen) was working 
in the stockyards and an older sister (aged twenty-three) was 
a telephone operator, so that Mary's earnings were not urgently 
needed in the family. The comparatively simple requirement 
that age-and-school certificates should not be destroyed when 
the boy or girl becomes sixteen or that a new certificate be 
issued and that all minors be required to present working 
papers would protect a very considerable number of children 
who are now being deprived of the benefits of the compulsory 
education law. 

Other children are lost track of in the same way. Such was 

the case of Helen M . Helen was born January 6, 1900, 

and left school in 19 11, when she was in the fourth grade. In 
January, 1914, she was granted a certificate by a parochial 
school and in October asked for help in finding work. At that 
time she said that she did not know the name of the school she 
had attended. She had left school three years before, had just 
stayed at home and helped her mother, and when she was four- 
teen got a certificate and began to help support the family. 
She had worked in a tailor shop for two weeks and earned $1 . 50 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 297 

a week pulling bastings, but she later got a job in a candy fac- 
tory during the busy season for $4 a week. She was laid off 
in a month, but was lucky enough to find work in another candy 
factory for a fortnight, but after that she was unable to go any 
farther. There seemed to be "no more jobs anywhere" for 
a child so ignorant and so untrained. 

A similar case is that of Theresa C , who claimed to be 

fourteen and left school on the day on which, according to the 
school record, she was only twelve. She had been in this 
country nine months and when she left school was in the third 
grade. The school principal refused to sign an employment 
certificate, but she had learned that if she claimed to be sixteen 
she could probably get work without a certificate. Although 
she was a small child and did not look older than twelve, she 
found work in a fashionable dressmaking establishment for two 
months, and then in a large department store for three months. 
At the latter place she was "laid off" because the factory 
inspector came around and questioned her right to work. The 
school seemed to have made no effort to have her returned, but 
the social worker to whom she applied for assistance in finding 
"another job" got her returned to school; and she is there now 
waiting until a letter can be obtained from Italy with a copy 
of her birth record. 

The serious aspect of this situation lies not only in the fact 
of the child's loss of schooling but in the encouragement of false 
statements made to deceive both employer and factory in- 
spector. One little girl who spoke quite innocently of her "real 
age" and her "working age" seemed, in company with many 
others, to have no sense of wrong-doing. She was trying to help 
a sorely pressed family and merely regretted that the difficulties 
placed in her way by the law had to be overcome by misstate- 
ments. Yet the moral effect must be harmful to the child who 
is compelled to lie in order to get work and finds it profitable 
to do so. 



298 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Another loophole through which children seem to escape 
from school before the compulsory age limit has been reached 
is by graduation from the eighth grade. The Illinois law does 
not exempt from school attendance the children who finish the 
elementary school before their fourteenth birthday. Legally 
such children are required to attend the free public high schools 
or some other school until the fourteenth birthday has been 
reached. But when a child feels that because he has graduated 
from the eighth grade he is entitled to a certificate, he seems to 
find it not too difhcult to go to work anyway. Such was the case 

of Henry F , who graduated from the elementary school 

seven months before his fourteenth birthday. In this case 
the boy, who was very large and tall, got a job for the summer 
and then decided that he would not return to school, as he 
should have done in September under the compulsory school 
law. He had never attended a parochial school, but he got 
a certificate from the school connected with the church where 
he had been confirmed. In spite of the fact that he had a certifi- 
cate he found that he could get a better job by not using it and 
by saying that he was sixteen years old. The factory inspector 
discovered that he was not sixteen, and he was discharged, but 
by that time he had reached his fourteenth birthday and there- 
fore could not be compelled to return to school. This case and 
several similar ones that have come to notice are instances of 
peculiar wastefulness, since the children are unusually bright and 
ambitious and likely to come from homes in which their earnings 
are not necessary. 

An adequate compulsory education law should contain not 
only a statement concerning the age at which the child may 
legally leave school to go to work but also provisions requiring 
that the child meet physical and educational tests of fitness to 
work. Neither the Illinois child labor law nor the compulsory 
education law contains a provision requiring that the child be 
shown to be physically fit before his working papers are issued. 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 299 

The Illinois child labor law which was enacted in 1893 con- 
tained a clause providing that a factory inspector might require 
a certificate of physical fitness from a physician of good stand- 
ing if a child who was found at work appeared physically unable 
to do the work at which he was engaged. Mrs. Kelley was 
chief factory inspector at the time, and an attempt was made 
to use this clause. It was, however, found to be unenforceable,^ 
No appropriation is made for the payment of medical fees, and 
without this, proper certificates cannot be obtained. If certi- 
fying physicians are not appointed and any doctor is allowed 
to issue certificates, a physician can always be found who for the 
sake of a fee is willing to certify that any child is physically fit 
for work. Although this provision of the child labor law has 
never been repealed, no one of Mrs. Kelley's successors has 
repeated her attempts to enforce it, and although our Illinois 
Child Labor law still contains a provision that a child who is 
found in an occupation for which he is physically unfit should 
not be left working in that occupation by the inspecting officer, 
the provision was and is a dead letter. At present, chil- 
dren who are physically handicapped in every way are given 
working papers, and they cannot legally be prevented from 
working at occupations which are exceedingly dangerous for 
them. It is true that the child labor law prohibits any child 
between fourteen and sixteen from working at a "dangerous 
occupation," but of course this means only occupations danger- 
ous for a normal child, not for a child with weak heart, weak 
lungs or other physical disability. 

Among children who are granted employment certificates 
are children who have been too ill to attend school regularly, 
children who are lame and crippled, children with heart disease, 
and tubercular children who have been in the open-air schools, 
which are maintained at heavy expense for the sake of bringing 

' See ante, chap, v, "Parallel Development of Child Labor and Edu- 
cation Laws," p. 73, and Appendix III, p. 403. 



300 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

these children up to a proper standard of physical fitness. The 
wastefulness of granting working certificates to children who 
have just come out of special open-air schools is obvious. At 
the present time in spite of all the additional care and expense 
that have been devoted to these children by the Board of Edu- 
cation and the private agency assisting in this work, the law 
allows them to walk out of the open-air schools on their four- 
teenth birthday and to go to work in occupations that are almost 
certain to be injurious to them. Indeed, there seems to be no suit- 
able employment available for an open-air school child between 
the ages of fourteen and sixteen. Some form of outdoor em- 
ployment would no doubt be best, yet often this work requires 
the carrying of heavy packages and it is usually "blind-alley" 
work. There can be no question as to the importance of 
requiring these children to remain in school at least until the 
sixteenth birthday, instead of allowing them to find "jobs" 
that many of them are in the long run not able to hold. A few 
cases which follow will throw some light on this problem. 

Katie I finished the fifth grade in the open-air school. 

She was the youngest in a family of two children, and as soon 
as she got her working papers she found a job in a peanut 
factory, where she shelled peanuts at a rate of ten cents for 
every three pounds. She was, however, still going to the hospital 
twice a week to have her lungs examined. She left the factory 
after a few weeks because the ventilation was poor and she was 
compelled to stoop continuously in her work. The "forelady" 
told her that she had better give up the work. Her next posi- 
tion was a "scab-job" in a tailor shop, sewing pants. She 
got this position during a strike, and a policeman escorted her 
to work every day. She found, of course, that conditions of 
work were no more favorable here than in the other place. 

Jake S — , the oldest of five children, finished the sixth 

grade in the open-air school. His father was a janitor and 
worked regularly but thought that Jake ought to "help," since 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 301 

he was old enough to work. Jake worked as a department 
store wagon boy for two years, and then left because he could 
not get his wages raised. His next job was that of elevator boy 
in a downtown building, where he worked for six months. He 
was sick and "the boss fired him." Then he got a job in a 
factory, but was discharged at the end of the first week because 
he was not strong enough to do the work. He next worked as 
delivery boy for a department store, but he had to carry heavy 
boxes of groceries upstairs; so the work proved too heavy for 
him and he left. 

Morris R finished the fifth grade in the open-air 

school at the age of fourteen. He had been in this country only 
four years. His first position was in a tailor shop, where he 
worked for one year, but finally left because the steam in the 
shop made him sick. 

Henry W left the open-air school at fourteen, having 

finished the sixth grade. His first job was in a drug store, 
where he worked as errand boy. He held this position for two 
and a half years, and was then laid off. He next worked as 
errand boy for a ready-made clothing concern, but at the end 
of six months the firm failed. Then he worked in a wholesale 
house for two and a half years, but the dust in the room where 
he worked was bad for him, and the manager advised him 
to leave on account of his physical condition and to find 
out-of-door employment. He was then twenty years of 
age and was faced with the difficult problem of finding "light 
work." 

Chris J left the open-air school when he was fourteen. 

His first job was with a contractor for whom he worked as 
water boy for two months. He then found a new place as water 
boy for another contractor and worked for another month. 
He was then "out of a job" and found work tossing bricks, 
clearly an unsuitable place for any boy even if he had not been 
in the open-air school. 



302 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Elsie B finished the sixth grade in the open-air school 

at the age of fourteen. Her father was dead, and as she was 
the oldest of four children the mother insisted that she leave 
school and go to work. Her first position was in an ice-cream 
cone factory, where she earned $2.50 a week, but working 
conditions in the factory were bad, and she was unable to keep 
the position more than two or three weeks. She was fortunate 
in coming under the observation of the school nurse who sent 
her to a social agency for advice. A scholarship was then pro- 
vided so that she might go to the Hull-House Trade School and 
not be sent back to work until she was older and stronger. 

Another group of children whose physical condition fre- 
quently makes it unsuitable for them to go to work are the chil- 
dren of the women who are receiving "widows' pensions" from 
the Juvenile Court. The court has set a high standard of relief 
and of care for these children, but in general they are in a 
very anaemic condition when they come under the care of the 
court, probably because of privation during their father's illness. 
These children are all examined by a physician, and although 
not physically incapacitated they are underfed and frequently 
undersized and too weak for any of the "jobs" that are avail- 
able for them. It is, however, illegal for the court to grant 
any money for the care of any child after his fourteenth birth- 
day, when the law permits him to go to work. 

While excellent work has been done recently by the Bureau 
of Employment Supervision through its Volunteer Scholarship 
Committee by securing the return to school and special voca- 
tional training for delicate children, this committee can at best 
meet the needs of only a small proportion of the children needing 
care. A study of their scholarship cases would indicate, how- 
ever, the great importance of requiring that all children who 
go to work must meet certain tests of physical fitness. For 
example, a little girl of fourteen who had been out of school with 
St. Vitus dance for two or three years before her fourteenth birth- 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 303 

day, but claimed a working permit a fortnight after she was 
fourteen, asserting that she was "well now," was referred to 
this committee. The child's earnings were so much needed in 
the home that a scholarship was provided as the only means of 
keeping her from unsuitable work. Another fourteen-year-old 
girl, small for her age, had been in the sixth grade seventy- 
two weeks. The mother said that the child evidently could 
not learn and there was no use in sending her to school any 
longer. An examination showed that the child was subnormal, 
not mentally but physically. The Department of Child-Study 
reported that she had only the strength of a normal child of 
twelve, that she was in bad physical condition, and that she 
should not go to work under any circumstances. It was, 
however, just an accident that this child was taken to the 
department for examination, whereas such a report should be 
required for every child who is leaving school to claim an 
employment certificate. Nothing can be satisfactory except 
the systematic examination of every child and a compulsory 
return to school or to some agency that can provide proper treat- 
ment for every child physically unfit for work. 

Adequate child labor and compulsory education laws should 
provide not only that the child who leaves school to go to work 
should have reached a minimum standard of physical fitness, 
but also a minimum standard of education. Unfortunately 
the present Illinois law prescribes no educational qualification 
for the school-leaving child except an absolutely inadequate and 
unenforceable provision that if he "cannot read at sight and 
write legibly simple sentences" the certificate shall be issued 
only on condition that he is regularly attending an evening 
school. The law further provides that when there are no evening 
schools in session, age-and-school certificates shall not be issued 
to children who cannot meet the reading and writing require- 
ments. Unfortunately, for reasons which will be discussed 
later, the evening school provision is practically a dead letter. 



304 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The educational test prescribed — that of being able "to 
read at sight and write legibly simple sentences" — would, even 
if it were enforced, be a wholly inadequate one. And it is 
important to note that in this matter of establishing a minimum 
standard of education that must be attained before a child is 
permitted to leave school Illinois is shockingly behind other 
states. In New York, for example, a child must not only be 
able to read and to write simple sentences in English (important 
words omitted in the Illinois law) but must also have a knowl- 
edge of fractions. In practice, it is held that this means that 
a child must have completed the fifth grade. In Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, Ohio, and several other states the educational test 
is equally high or higher, but Illinois has been content to lag 
behind without attempting to keep its illiterate minors in 
school. 

It is important to note, too, that slight as is the educational 
test provided, this test is not given to children when they apply 
for certificates. The statute provides that "the certificate of 
the principal of a public or parochial school shall be prima facie 
evidence as to the literacy or illiteracy of the child." It is 
assumed, of course, that principals will give certificates only to 
children who have attended their schools, but practice varies 
with the type of principal in charge. For example, two boys 

named K , belonging to a Polish family that had moved 

to Chicago from Canada, obtained certificates from a public- 
school principal although they had not attended his school. 
A social worker who was investigating the case because there 
seemed some good reason for believing that at least one of the boys 
was under fourteen expressed surprise that the principal should 
have issued certificates to children who had not been members 
of his school. The principal said that he did not usually do 
this, but that when children had "a hard-luck story, especially 
last winter," he had given some certificates to boys whom he 
had examined in his ofiice and considered "worthy" of certifi- 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 305 

cates. In this case, the boys could not be proved to be under 
age and therefore their certificates could not be canceled. But 
there was equally no proof that they were old enough to work; 
they were in fact so illiterate and incompetent that they were in 
work very little of the time, and were becoming demoralized by 
idleness and bad company. 

A somewhat similar case is that of Salvatore C , a 

little boy who was lame and a hunchback, but who had left 
school when he was only twelve years and nine months old. 
This child was sent to the Juvenile Court for employment by 
the principal of an elementary school. A lady had found the 
child on the street and had taken him into the nearest school 
to see if the principal could do anything for him. Though 
the boy had never attended this school, the principal gave 
him a certificate and then sent him on to the Juvenile Court 
to see if a probation ofiicer could not find work for him. The 
principal of the school, when questioned about the child's age 
and school record, said that Salvatore had been brought in to 
him by a lady who said that the boy was in need. He issued 
the certificate as a matter of accommodation after finding that 
the boy could read and write "a, little." 

The children who are given age-and-school certificates fall 
into two groups: those who have been attending school in 
Chicago prior to the granting of a certificate and whose illiteracy 
should be a matter of school record and those who come from 
outside of Chicago and who have no school certificates to 
present at the "issuing bureau" as evidence of their right to 
employment certificates. But whether a child comes from the 
Chicago schools or not, there is no way under the law of keeping 
him in school if he is unable to meet the "reading or writing 
test." The Chicago child, for example, who is in the first 
grade and who is therefore presumably illiterate can under the 
law be granted a working certificate only if he brings a certificate 
showing that he has enrolled in evening school, and thereafter 



3o6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

his working certificate is to continue in force only as long as the 
child's regular attendance at evening school is certified weekly 
by the teacher and the principal. But the law makes no 
provision regarding the person to whom the report is to be 
made. The issuing bureau has been in charge of a civil service 
clerk^ who has no follow-up machinery and, knowing that the 
evening school provision cannot be, in general, enforced takes 
no notice of it. The iUiteracy provision is therefore practically 
a dead letter. Sometimes a school principal refuses a certificate 
to an illiterate child, but he is probably acting illegally when he 
does so. And in general the child or the parents find some way 
of getting the desired paper. For example, an Italian boy, 

Peter G , who had been in this country three years, was 

in the third grade at the end of the school term in June. He 
was not fourteen until the following October, but did not return 
to school in September because he found a job ca^rrying water for 
a railroad gang. Later when he tried to get a work certificate, 
the principal of the school refused to give him one on the ground 
that he had not had enough schooling. The boy refused to 
return to school, however, and enrolled in the evening class of 
another elementary school and got a certificate from the even- 
ing school principal. When he applied to a social agency for 
assistance in finding a "job," he had been out of work for nearly 
a year. He had never been to school in Italy, he could not read 
or write in Italian, he could not understand anything but very 

' It seems hardly necessary to point out that a position which brings 
the official into such close contact with children and parents at a critical 
moment in their experience should be filled by a person of dignity and com- 
petence. Under the circumstances the Board of Education would do well to 
place in charge of the issuing bureau a person taken from the group of intelli- 
gent and successful principals in whom the children would feel confidence, on 
whose judgment the parents could look with respect. Such a person covld 
render great service to the other principals by calling their attention to the 
importance of the part they play in giving the children the preliminary 
statement of educational requirements. 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 307 



simple English words, he could not read English, and could 
write only his name. What a preparation for American life! 
Moreover, in such cases, the sacrifice of the child's schooling 
is made in vain. He leaves school to go to work, but he cannot 
find work. He finds that his employment certificate, which he 
had obtained with so much difiiculty, is of no assistance to him, 
and he soon becomes discouraged and demoralized. The case 

of Peter G was discovered when the family applied to the 

United Charities for help. The father had been ill for two 
months, the boy, Peter, had had no work for nearly twelve 
months, and no one else in the family was working. 

The cases that have been given show that there is no 
literacy test enforced in Chicago at the present time as a pre- 
requisite to the issue of working papers. This is, moreover, a 
matter of public record. Table XXXI shows the grade last at- 

TABLE XXXI 

Number of Children est Specified Grades Receiving Age- and- School 
Certificates from Chicago Public Schools, 1904-7, 1909, 1912-14 





Grade 


go 

S ° 


S 
W Z H 




Year 

Ending 
June 30 


* 


X) 

a 



■T3 

13 
H 


.a 

(2 


XI 

E 


in 


ja 


J3 

la 
W 


■Sa 
c 

III 


< 

s 


1914. .. 
1913- • • 
1912. . . 
1909... 
1907 . . . 
1906 . . . 
1905. .. 
1904. .. 


30 

IS 

27 

32 

10 

3 

7 

5 


58 
S6 
S7 
102 
III 
82 
106 
88 


252 
203 
25Q 
348 
332 
302 
249 
S63 


69s 
756 
727 

i,07S 

1,002 

941 

981 

1,294 


1,584 
1,622 
1,816 
2,073 
i,gi7 
2,030 
2,174 
2,978 


2,347 
2,396 
2,521 
2,579 
2,396 
2,492 
2,502 
2,722 


2,633 
2,561 
2,647 
2,433 
2,146 
2,115 
2,355 
2,514 


4,034 
3,257 
3,204 
2,378 
2,956 
2,131 
2,418 
3,111 


919 

621 

856 
770 
464 

389 
488 

493 


70 
56 
20 
33 
57 
63 
80 
64 


1,011 

1,040 

1,169 

815 

284 

87 

182 

455 


13,633 
12,583 
13,303 
12,638 
11,67s 
10,63s 
11,542 
14,287 




129 


660 


2,508 


7,471 


16,194 


19,955 


19,404 


23,489 


5,000 


443 


5,043 


100,296 



*Data for the years 1908, 1910, 1911, are not given in tlie Board of Education reports. 

tended by the children who were given employment certificates 
when they left the public schools. A study of this table, which 



3o8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

covers a period of eight years and shows the grades reached by- 
more than one hundred thousand working children indicates 
only too plainly that, in general, certificates are issued without 
any reference to the educational progress of the children who 
apply for them. 

According to this table, in the eight years for which infor- 
mation is given, there have been 129 certificates issued to first- 
grade children, 660 to second-grade children, 2,508 to third- 
grade children, and 7,471 to fourth-grade children. The school 
records show, then, that during a period of eight years more than 
ten thousand children who have not reached the fifth grade in 
school were given working papers and that during the last 
school year for which information is available more than a 
thousand such certificates were issued. Unfortunately, there 
are no similar records of certificates issued by parochial 
schools; but since these schools have a larger proportion of 
foreign children than the public schools, it is to be expected 
that their children would be more, rather than less, illiterate 
than the children from the public schools. 

It is to be hoped that the next Illinois legislature will not 
shirk the task of prescribing tests both of physical development 
and of educational qualifications which will prevent the early 
exhaustion of these young wage-earners and at the same time 
lay the foundations for a more competent citizenship. The 
following changes in the Illinois compulsory education law are 
suggested as necessary if the purpose of the law is to be fulfilled 
and the issuance of working papers is really to safeguard the 
upper limit of the compulsory age. 

I. The abolition of local control over the issuance of work- 
ing certificates and the substitution of a central authority acting 
through a state bureau or department. — Under the present system 
in Illinois which leaves the local educational authorities all over 
the state free to be as lax as they please with regard to the 
enforcement of the compulsory law, the law will never be ade- 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 309 

quately enforced. Difficulties arise first because the local 
boards of education are frequently lax and indifferent, and 
secondly because any supervision of the issuing of certificates 
by parochial and other private schools is, as matters stand, 
impossible. At present, the state law lays down certain require- 
ments that must be met before a child shall be granted work- 
ing papers, but the state provides no department and no 
officials to see that the provisions of this law are enforced. 
If the issuing of the employment certificates were in the hands 
of a state department of education, then public and private 
schools alike would be under the supervision of a competent 
central authority. In the recent valuable study of the Con- 
necticut employment certificate system by the Children's 
Bureau it is pointed out that 

the strongest single feature of the Connecticut system and, indeed, 
the source of most of its other strong features, seems to be the central- 
ization of control over the entire procedure relating to certificates 
throughout the state in the hands of the state board of education. 
.... Every child who obtains an employment certificate in Con- 
necticut passes substantially the same test of his qualifications, and 
every child has substantially the same chance of receiving the actual 
protection of the law. 

The report adds that 

centralization of control over the issuing and the refusing of certifi- 
cates as well as over inspection tends to efficiency in enforcement as 
well as to uniformity in standards. 

There may be some question as to how far the state factory 
inspectors may serve as a unifying force, but as to their inability 
to enforce satisfactorily an employment certificate system 
there can be no question. The factory inspector's method must 
be that of inspection of industrial establishments, and this 
system can never adequately protect the working child. It is 
interesting to note that the investigators of the Children's 



3IO TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Bureau who studied the employment certificate system say 
emphatically that 

industrial inspection is only one method of enforcing the law and is 
probably destined to decrease in importance as methods of locating 
and following up children are improved. 

Furthermore, that while 

industrial inspection seems to be essential in the absence of a com- 
plete and permanent census of all children subject to legal regulation^ 
.... it can never be an efficient method of enforcing a child labor 
law, for children may be here today and there tomorrow and the cost 
of inspecting all industrial establishments often enough to locate 
such unstable elements is prohibitory. Therefore the problem of 
enforcing a child labor law must, like the problem of enforcing a com- 
pulsory education law, be approached from the side of the indi- 
vidual child, and school attendance officers must be authorized to 
go, at their discretion, wherever children go, even if this power means 
a certain amount of double inspection of industrial establishments. 
If a state child labor law is to be thoroughly enforced, some state 
agency must keep a record of the whereabouts of every child in the 
state, whether at school or at work. 

' Children's Bureau Publication. Employment Certificate System in 
Connecticut, by Sumner and Hanks, pp. 50-51. 

Although the Connecticut law is vastly superior to the Illinois law 
both as to the requirements set for working papers and as to the means 
of enforcement, nevertheless the Children's Bureau investigators found 
serious defects in the Connecticut system which are of interest, since they 
also exist in our Illinois system. Thus it is pointed out in connection 
with the statements quoted above: "At present the State Board of Edu- 
cation of Connecticut has, at least theoretically, such a record of aU children 
who are not in school. There are, however, two glaring sources of incom- 
pleteness in these records, first, that children engaged in agricultural and 
domestic pursuits are not included, and, second, that there is no efficient 
method of registering newcomers to the state. Children are not obliged 
to have employment certificates to engage in farm and domestic labor. 
This means not only that children leaving school to go to work in these 
occupations pass no educational test and are not obliged to fulfil any edu- 
cational requirements, but also that the names of such children are not on 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 311 

2. Proof of age. — The present Illinois law fails to protect 
the upper limit of the compulsory period because no satisfactory 
proof of age is required before a work certificate is issued. The 
only satisfactory evidence of age is, of course, a copy of the child's 
birth record, and the issuing of employment certificates cannot 
be properly protected until an adequate system of birth regis- 
tration is enforced not only in Illinois, but in other American 
states. An adequate vital statistics law was passed at the last 
session of the Illinois legislature, and the state can require four- 
teen years hence that, before the issuance of an employment 
certificate, native-born children must submit copies of their 
birth records. Until that time arrives, the best evidence of age 
is that furnished by the school records. Greater care, however, 
should be taken when the certificate is applied for, to learn 
the child's correct age, that is, the age given at the time he 
first enrolled in school, and not the age recently assumed in 
order to obtain a certificate to which he is not entitled. For 
foreign-born children, copies of birth records should also be 
required; and since European systems of birth registration are 
so uniformly superior to our own, this documentary proof of 
age could easily be obtained. Since the parents are often so 
ignorant and helpless in the matter of correspondence,^ a public 

the records of the state board of education. Even if this loophole in the 
law is not generally known or made use of except in country districts, some 
record of these children should be kept, it would seem, by the state board 
in order to prevent their drifting into industrial labor without certificates. 
As for the registration of newcomers to the State, the school census, even 
if thoroughly and efficiently handled for that end — which in the absence 
of any central control is not by any means always the case — is not taken 
often enough to accomplish the purpose." 

' The report of the Children's Bureau on the Connecticut employment 
certificate system, which has already been referred to, makes the following 
comment on this point: "If a foreign-born child has a passport or other 
similar paper, he is not obliged to send for another documentary proof of 
his age; but if he cannot produce such a paper his parent is told to write 
to the place where he was born for a birth certificate. The agents do not 



312 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

official might well be required to send the necessary letters abroad 
asking for copies of the birth-records of immigrant children. 

Leaving the question of the method of issuing certificates 
and the question of enforcing such standards as are prescribed, 
these standards should themselves be discussed. A good com- 
pulsory school law ought to provide that no child shall be given 
a certificate allowing him to leave school to go to work unless 
he had reached a minimum standard of age, education, and 
physical development, 

3. Minimum age. — The minimum school-leaving age should 
be sixteen years instead of fourteen as prescribed in the present 
Illinois law. This subject is, however, discussed at length in 
the following chapter and will not be considered here. 

4. Minimum standard of education. — It has been pointed 
out in the foregoing pages that the present Illinois law contains 
an absurdly inadequate educational standard, and that even 
this low standard is not enforced. The minimum standard 
should not only include reading with facility and "writing 
legibly," but the words "in English," so sorely needed in our 
present law, should be added. This minimum educational 
standard should also include a knowledge of arithmetic up to 

state to whom the child or his parent should write; require no evidence such 
as a registry receipt that a letter has been written; and demand no proof 
later, when the child or parent returns claiming that the birth record cannot 

be obtained, that such is actually the case While waiting the receipt 

of a foreign birth record or a communication stating that it cannot be 
obtained, the child is not allowed to work but must go to school" (p. 20). 
Further comment on the present practice in Connecticut is made as 
foUows: "Birth registration, it is well known, is more complete in most 
European countries than in the United States, and copies of birth certifi- 
cates can very generally be obtained for foreign-born children, provided 
application is made to the proper official and the regular fee is sent. Often, 
however, parents know neither to whom they should write nor the amount 
of money to send, and if left undirected they sometimes write to relatives 
and sometimes, even if they write to the proper official, fail to send the 
fee" (p. 40). 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 313 

and including fractions. Such a requirement would virtually 
insist on the completion of the fifth grade, which is indeed a 
minimum of education for the electorate of a democracy! In 
Illinois, in eight years for which records are available, more than 
10,000 children who had not reached the fifth grade had been 
allowed to leave school to go to work, and 16,194 other chil- 
dren were in the fifth grade at the time of receiving their papers. 

Another essential requirement is that school records should 
not be accepted as a proof of educational fitness. The law 
should provide for the giving of an educational test by the 
issuing bureau in addition to the principal's certificate, and it 
has already been recommended that this bureau should be placed 
under state control. On this point again the investigations of 
the Children's Bureau with regard to the working of the Con- 
necticut employment system have been most illuminating. 
The Connecticut law provides that "in order to obtain an 
employment certificate a child must be able to read with facility, 
to write legibly simple sentences, and to perform the operations 
of the fundamental rules of arithmetic with relation both to 
whole numbers and to fractions." This Connecticut standard, 
which is virtually a fifth-grade requirement, was found by 
the investigators of the Children's Bureau to be lowered by the 
method of enforcement. 

On this point, their report says: 

Fifth-grade school records are accepted in lieu of the test in 
practically all cities and towns, except Hartford, where large num- 
bers of children are employed, and teachers or principals who wish 
to get rid of backward or troublesome children may therefore be able 

to promote them out of school into industry In many other 

places this is practicaUy impossible, it is claimed, as promotions are 
made twice a year as the result of examinations which are checked up 
in the office of the superintendent of schools. No such check is 
placed upon private schools, and the state board of education itself 
uses no method of detecting unearned promotions. The records of 



314 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

applicants might be examined; but this would be a laborious process 
as compared with the simple expedient of requiring every child to 
take an educational test regardless of the grade in school — a pro- 
cedure which is unquestionably authorized by the law. 

It may be said, then, that the investigation of the Children's 
Bureau has made it perfectly clear that an educational standard 
is of little value unless it is enforced by an impartial authority 
outside of the school system and enforced on the basis of an 
examination given to the children who are applicants for cer- 
tificates and not on the basis of reports handed in by local 
school authorities. 

Something should perhaps be said about the mentally 
deficient children who can never reach even a low educational 
minimum. Whether or not such children should be perma- 
nently under the custody of the state in an educational insti- 
tution is a question to be discussed by experts. But it is only 
too obvious that in any event mentally defective children should 
not be put to work during their minority.^ 

5. Minimum standard of physical development. — Not only 
should the state require that every child should have reached 
a minimum standard of education before working papers are 
issued, but it should also demand that children should meet a 
certain standard of physical fitness for work and that their 
condition should be certified by examining physicians appointed 
by the educational authorities.^ 

' The report of the Children's Bureau says with regard to the present 
treatment of these children under the Connecticut law: "No provision is 
made in the law for the exemption of mentally defective children from the 
educational requirements. If unable to finish the grade requirement or 
pass the educational test these children must stay in school until they are 
sixteen years of age, even though they may be unable to make any progress 
in the subjects taught" (p. 41). 

2 A recent valuable monograph on Mental and Physical Measurements 
of Working Children, by WooUey and Fischer (Psychological Monographs, 



THE EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE SYSTEM 315 

6. Requirement that children must be at work or in school. — 
Finally no employment certificate should be issued until the 
child has an acceptable promise of immediate employment that 
can be verified by the school authorities. 

This last requirement, which would prevent the waste and the 
demoralization that now result from the child's tramping about 
in search of work, will, however, be discussed in the next chapter. 

In concluding this chapter, attention should be called to the 
importance of keeping children in school up to the age limit 

No. 77) contains the following statement as to the present status of this 
problem : 

"There are very few instances in which any physical standards for the 
admission of children to industry have been adopted. The rule of the New 
York Board of Health that children of fourteen must be at least 4 ft. 8 in. 
in height and at least 80 lbs. in weight if they are to be granted working 
permits is perhaps the most important instance of the application of a 
definite physical standard. The Department of Health of the City of New 
York cannot be too highly commended for having taken this stand on so 
important an issue. We merely wish to point out that, on the basis of our 
results, the minimum standards of height and weight for children of four- 
teen years of age ought not to be the same for the two sexes. The New 
York standard applied to our own series of 753 fourteen-year-old working 
children would have excluded nine girls and twenty-seven boys — three 
times as many boys as girls. The New York department probably avoided 
this kind of injustice by the rule that any child who fell below the minimum 
standards of height and weight had the right of further physical examina- 
tion, and might still receive his working papers if he proved thoroughly 
healthy in spite of his small size. A difference of standard for the two sexes, 
however, would obviate the necessity for some of these special examinations. 
For states which have a minimum age of fifteen years for entering industry, 
a sex difference in standards of height and weight would scarcely be neces- 
sary, since the differences at that age are much smaller than at fourteen. 

"It is possible that other factors of physical development in adcUtion 
to height and weight may prove to be valuable guides for the acceptance 
or rejection of youthful applicants for admission to industry. Such a series 
of measurements as we have presented when interpreted in the light of sub- 
sequent industrial histories ought to offer on this point valuable evidence" 
(p. 246). 



3i6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

prescribed by the law in a state where the age of entering school 
is placed as late as seven years by the compulsory law. A child 
who does not enter school until he is seven has, at best, only seven 
required years of schooling under the present law. He should 
not be permitted to sacrifice any of this short period of required 
attendance. In England, where the child is required to begin 
school at the age of five and in Germany and in some of our 
American states where compulsory attendance begins at six/ 
the period of required attendance is, of course, longer and the 
child who escapes before the end of the compulsory period does 
not sacrifice so much. 

The chapter that follows will deal with the present condi- 
tions which are the result of leaving the compulsory age limit at 
fourteen years and attempting to regulate child labor between 
the ages of fourteen and sixteen. 

' This is not the place to present arguments in favor of making the 
period of compulsory attendance begin at an age earlier than the seven 
years required in our Illinois law and quite generally in American states. 
Certainly in the poorer districts of our cities social workers must be impressed 
with the great loss to children who spend the years between five and seven 
in such unfavorable surroundings when they might have, if the law required 
it, the helpful training provided in the public school kindergartens and 
primary grades. The late enrolment required by our Illinois law is, of 
course, one explanation of the low school grade reached by so many 
children who receive employment certificates (see ante, p. 307). If for 
some reason it is undesirable to require parents to send their children to 
school at the age of five or six then there is every reason why the law should 
prescribe not only the attainment of a specific age but also a specific edu- 
cational standard before granting exemption from compulsory attendance. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE NEED OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN 
BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE 

In the year 1907 the compulsory education law of Illinois, 
which had made school attendance compulsory for children 
between the ages of seven and fourteen years, was so amended 
as to include all children between the ages of seven and sixteen 
years. The new law provided, however, that exemption from 
school attendance might be granted to any child between the 
ages of fourteen and sixteen years whenever the child was 
"necessarily and lawfully employed" during the hours when 
the public school was in session. That is, the new law nominally 
made school attendance compulsory up to the age of sixteen in 
one sentence and in the next sentence went back to the old 
system and provided that children between fourteen and sixteen 
might be either at school or at work. 

The real difficulty with the amended law of 1907 was that 
once more the parallel development of the child labor and the 
compulsory education laws had been neglected. The compul- 
sory attendance law could not keep children in school if the 
child labor law permitted them to go to work. Foreseeing this 
complication, the authors of the 1907 amendment evidently 
thought that it would be practicable to make school attend- 
ance compulsory for the fourteen- to sixteen-year-old children 
who were not at work. In practice, however, the provision that 
children must be either at school or at work has proved to be an 
unenforceable one. In the first place there is no machinery for 
keeping track of children between fourteen and sixteen and of 
finding out whether or not the child who has been given a work 
certificate is or is not at work. This could be done only if the 



3i8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

compulsory education department or some similar agency were 
required to keep a register of such children and of their places 
of employment. In a few states, for example, an employer 
when he discharges a child is required to return the child's work 
certificate to the school authorities. When this is done, the 
child can be returned to school if he does not find work at once. 

The Illinois child labor law unfortunately provides (sec. 20 f) 
that the age-and-school certificate shall be the property of the 
child and shall be surrendered to him when he leaves one em- 
ployer to seek another. If the child fails to claim the paper 
within thirty days, the employer should return it to the edu- 
cation authority issuing it, but there is no penalty provided 
for the employer who fails to comply with the requirement 
that he return the child's working papers. 

It may be said with regard to the enforcement of the pro- 
vision in the Illinois law that the child between fourteen and 
sixteen must be either at work or at school, that at both ends 
of the line the law breaks down: neither in the compulsory 
education office nor in that of the factory inspector are there 
provisions for the enforcement of this requirement. Employers 
very rarely return uncalled-for certificates, and an additional 
weakness here is that employers are open to the temptation of 
using such a certificate for some illegally employed child. 

As a matter of fact, the provision that purported to bring 
children between fourteen and sixteen under the compulsory 
education law in 1907 was on the face of it wholly inadequate. 
By exempting from the law all children who were lawfully 
employed, the provision was made incapable of enforcement. 
What the law seems to mean is that any child who has an 
employment certificate and pretends to be wanting a "job" 
is to be exempt from school attendance; but, again, no attempt 
is made to keep a record of fourteen- to sixteen-year-old children 
who have not taken employment certificates, and certainly many 
girls stay at home without them. 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 319 

Another point to be discussed in connection with the 
statutory exemptions regarding the children between fourteen 
and sixteen is the provision that the children between these 
ages who are excused from school attendance are, in the precise 
words of the statute, those who are "necessarily and lawfully 
employed during the hours when the public school is in session," 
and the question must be raised as to what meaning is to be 
attached to the words "necessarily .... employed." Ob- 
viously none at all, unless some machinery is provided for 
investigating the home circumstances of each child who applies 
for a work certificate. No such machinery was provided 
for in the law and during the first six years after the passage of 
the amendment those charged with the enforcement of the law 
seemed to overlook the provision that children must be "neces- 
sarily employed." In an occasional instance, some principal 
or settlement worker might persuade a child who seemed to 
come from a sufficiently comfortable home in which his earnings 
were not needed, to return to school, but, in general, any child 
who reached the age of fourteen could obtain a work certificate. 
After the establishment of the Bureau of Employment Super- 
vision,^ the social workers employed there found that there were 
many cases of children who could be persuaded to return to 
school because their earnings were not needed in the home, 
and the waste that resulted from their leaving school auto- 
matically, as it were, on their fourteenth birthday was clearly 
demonstrated. 

No systematic attempt on the part of the school authorities 
to enforce the provision of the law that children must be 
necessarily as well as lawfully employed if they were to be 
exempt from school attendance seems to have been made until 
June, 1913, which was nearly six years after the law was passed. 

' See Appendix VII for an account of this bureau, which was organized 
in connection with this investigation into the working of the compulsory 
law. 



320 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Influenced possibly by the work of the Employment Supervision 
Bureau, the Department of Compulsory Education then placed 
an officer in the Age-and-School Certificate Bureau to interview 
all children applying for employment certificates. During the 
first few weeks after the close of school when literally swarms of 
children crowd the issuing bureau, it is of course impossible for 
a single officer to interview all children applying for papers, 
but in normal times an effort seems to be made to interview 
all applicants, supposedly in order to determine whether or 
not the child's employment is '^necessary," If not "necessary," 
the work certificate might then be refused. In the school year 
1913-14 the representative of the Department of Compulsory 
Education challenged the issuance of a certificate to a little girl, 
the child of a saloon-keeper, whose earnings were obviously not 
needed in the family. The child was refused a certificate, but 
the father in turn refused to allow her to return to school. The 
Department of Compulsory Education thereupon took the case 
into the Municipal Court and asked that the child's return to 
school be enforced under the compulsory law since she was not 
"lawfully employed." The Municipal Court judge who heard 
the case decided that the child must be returned to school. 
The father did not carry the case to a higher court, and it stands 
therefore as a precedent. The decision, however, seems to have 
been made, not on the ground that the child was unnecessarily 
employed, but that she was not employed at all. 

More recently a bulletin has been issued from the office 
of the superintendent of the Chicago schools containing the 
following statement under the heading "Labor Certificates": 

There has been quite a measure of uncertainty relative to the 
spirit of the law in the issuing or withholding of labor certificates 
when children apply for the same. That portion of the statute 
which uses the expression "necessarily employed" is susceptible of 
more than a single interpretation. The attorney of the Board of 
Education believes that "the spirit of the law is to enforce the edu- 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 321 

cation of children for the public good, excepting where individual 
necessity would make the enforcement of the law too burdensome." 
The question of issuing or withholding a certificate when apph- 
cation is made for same should be decided on the merits of each case 
and from information gathered as to the status of the home life and 
the abiUty of the family to provide, without serious sacrifice, for the 
education of the child. The import of this interpretation renders it 
within the power of the principal to withhold a certificate should the 
financial conditions of the family justify the continuance of the child 
in the work of the school.^ 

Whatever may have been intended by the word ''neces- 
sarily" in the law, it is clear that it is useless unless provision 
is made for a systematic investigation of the home circum- 
stances of each child. At present, of course, no machinery 
exists for making such inquiries. 

One further comment may be made with regard to the 
words "necessarily .... employed." Such a provision 
merely excuses from the benefits of the compulsory education 
law the children of especially "necessitous" parents. The 
early compulsory laws which fixed the school-leaving age at 
twelve or fourteen usually made similar exemptions of children 
who "on account of poverty" were obliged to work, and it was 
found that such provisions were objectionable in many ways. 
For example, the children excused because of poverty were 
the very ones most in need of education. Moreover it is 
impossible for the law to define with a satisfactory degree of 
precision the standard of poverty or necessity that is to entitle 
a child to exemption from school attendance. As the old 
exemptions for poverty were dropped for children below the age 
of fourteen, so must the excuse of poverty be dropped for 
children between fourteen and sixteen. If school attendance 
is to be made compulsory for any children, it must be made 
compulsory for all children. 

' Superintendent's Bulletin, February 21, 1916, p. 50. 



322 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Another difficulty in the way of enforcing the provision of 
the law requiring children between fourteen and sixteen to be 
either at school or at work is that the law provides no way of 
disciplining the unemployed child who refuses to return to 
school. The parental school law was passed in 1899, when the 
compulsory education law provided only for children under 
fourteen years of age, and unfortunately this law was not 
amended in 1907 when the " fourteen- to-sixteen " amendment 
was added to the compulsory law. It will be remembered that 
the parental school law provides for the establishment of 
parental or truant schools for the purpose of affording a place 
of confinement, discipline, instruction, and maintenance for 
children of compulsory school age.^ In defining the methods 
of commitment, however, it is provided that the children are 
not to be cared for in this institution after they reach the age of 
fourteen. This means that the Department of Compulsory 
Education has no machinery for dealing with the wilful truant 
over fourteen, other than by bringing him into court to receive 
a reprimand from the judge. The parents, of course, might be 
brought into the Municipal Court, but in the case of these older 
boys parental control is weak, even when the parents are intelli- 
gent enough to co-operate by exercising their authority. If the 
boy is really bad or if the home is really degraded, recourse may 
be had to the juvenile court law and the boy may be treated 
as a delinquent or as a dependent child under the provisions of 
that law. But such procedure obviously is applicable only to 
extreme cases and is not suited to the thousands of boys and 
girls who need the control and the oversight of the school during 
these critical years. 

The Department of Compulsory Education in Chicago has 
at different times recommended that special provision be made 
at the Parental School for boys between fourteen and six- 

' See Revised Statutes, chap. 122, sec. 140. 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 323 

teen/ But attention must be called to the fact that even if this 
provision were made, the real problem of proper care for such 
children would go unsolved until some method could be devised 
of systematically tracing all unemployed children between these 
ages. 

With regard to the fourteen- to sixteen-year-old children, 
then, it is as though the compulsory law ignored them entirely, 
for, although the law says that they must be in school unless 
"necessarily and lawfully employed," no inquiry into the home 
circumstances of the child is required by law and the words 
"necessarily .... employed" are therefore nullified in prac- 
tice, no provision is made for ascertaining whether or not 
children with work certificates are "lawfully employed," and 
there is no place to which children who refuse to return to 
school can be committed. On the whole, therefore, it may be 
said that the attempt made to extend the benefits of the com- 
pulsory law to all children under sixteen years of age has proved 
abortive, and the children are almost as unprotected as if the 
law ignored them. 

' The present superintendent of compulsory education has, for example, 
more than once called attention to the need of such provision for children 
over fourteen, and in a recent report of the Chicago Board of Education he 
strongly emphasizes "the necessity for better provision for the correction 
and care of children between fourteen and sixteen years of age who are 
beyond parental control and who prefer idleness to school attendance or 

employment The only recourse under present conditions against 

a fourteen-year-old truant who has committed no other offense than truancy, 
is to charge him with incorrigible or dehnquent conduct and to ask his com- 
mitment to the John Worthy School or to St. Charles. The former is a 
prison school where the worst type of delinquent boys is sent. St. Charles 
has not suf&cient capacity to provide for urgent delinquent cases. It is 
therefore a question of consistency for one state law to provide for compul- 
sory attendance up to the age of sixteen while another state law — the 
parental school law — provides for truants only between seven and fourteen 
years, and bars the truant between fourteen and sixteen." — Fifty-seventh 
Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago, p. 138. 



324 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The question remains to be asked: What are the facts 
regarding the present employment of children between the 
ages of fourteen and sixteen in Chicago, and how far do 
they support the demand for raising the compulsory attend- 
ance age from fourteen to sixteen years for all children? 
Is the work that is found by children of these ages suffi- 
ciently educative and valuable to justify the loss of these 
two years of school, or are their wages so essential to the 
support of their family that their employment must be per- 
mitted as a means of keeping these famihes self-sustaining and 
independent ? 

Perhaps the most convincing argument for the extension of 
the child labor law is to be found in the fact that at present 
there is so little demand for the labor of children under sixteen 
years of age that it is impossible for more than a small percent- 
age of the children who leave school at the age of fourteen or 
fifteen to find employment. There is always a demand for 
unregulated child labor, but when the law prescribes, as the 
Illinois law does, that children between fourteen and sixteen 
may be employed only under certain conditions, that they may 
not work more than eight hours a day or more than forty-eight 
hours a week, that they may not work at night, that they may 
not operate certain kinds of machines, then their labor ceases 
to be profitable to an employer. Unless he can exploit the 
children who work for him, the employer does not find that it 
"pays" to employ them at all. Firms that used to employ 
large numbers of children between fourteen and sixteen years of 
age in the old laissez-faire days now find protected child labor 
more trouble than it is worth. Many employers, too, do not 
care to run the risk of prosecution because of unintentional 
violations of the child labor laws. "We don't want to be 
bothered with the factory inspectors and the trouble about 
work certificates," is a common explanation of the refusal to 
employ children under sixteen. 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 325 

When the law attempts, therefore, to protect the working 
child, the effect is much the same as if employment were in large 
measure prohibited, for the children soon learn that there are no 
"jobs" to be found, and they spend their newly acquired leisure 
fruitlessly looking for work or idling on the streets. What has 
happened, therefore, is that by regulating the employment of 
children between fourteen and sixteen, the legislature has virtu- 
ally prohibited their employment, but has not required them to 
go to school. That is, the legislature repeated the mistake it 
made in 1893 when it took children out of the factories but left 
them on the street instead of requiring them to go to school.^ 
What is needed is that the legislature should now face the fact 
that the employment of children under sixteen has been virtu- 
ally prohibited. This prohibition should then be made absolute 
and the compulsory attendance law should be extended so as 
to require all children without any "exemptions" to spend these 
critical and valuable years in school. 

Testimony in support of the fact that there are very few 
occupations open to children under sixteen is not lacking. In 
the first place census statistics show a smaller number of children 
employed in 19 10 than in 1900 in spite of the increase in child 
population. Take, for example, the census statistics relating 



TABLE XXXII 

Average Number of Wage-Earners in 
Illinois* 





Total 


Number 
under i6 


Percentage 
under i6 


1909 

1899 


465,764 
332,871 


6,917 
9,943 


IS 
30 



♦Estimated on basis of actual number reported for a 
single representative day. Thirteenth Census of United 
States, 1910, Abstract, with supplement for Illinois, p. 709. 

' See chap, v, "Parallel Development of the Illinois Child Labor and 
Compulsory Education Laws." 



326 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



to the employment of children in manufacturing industries. 
The statistics presented relate to manufacturing industries only, 
but similar data are available for other occupations. Thus, 
the data given in Table XXXIII which are taken from the last 
census of occupations show for Chicago a reduction in the num- 
ber of children in "all occupations." These statistics merely 
confirm the testimony given by the census of manufactures. 
The total number of children employed in Chicago fell from 
27,527 to 20,490 and constituted 2.1 per cent of all persons 
employed in the latter year instead of 3.9 per cent in the 
earlier year. It should be noted, moreover, that all children 
claiming to be wage-earners were included in the occupational 
census, whether they were at work or not at the time the 
census was taken. 

TABLE XXXIII 

Total Number, and Number and Percent- 
age OF Children under Sixteen Em- 
ployed IN Gainful Occupations in 
Chicago, 1900 and 19 10* 





Total 


Number 
under i6 


Percentage 
under i6 


I9I0 

1900 


996,589 
705,382 


20,490 
27,527 


2. I 

3 9 



*TMrteenlk Census, "Occupations," pp. 544-46; 
Twelfth Census, "Occupations," pp. 516-21. 

The result of there being so few openings for children and of 
allowing so many of them to leave school to search for employ- 
ment each year is that a very considerable proportion of the 
children who get their employment certificates are idle during 
the greater part of the time. Some statistics showing the 
number of months that these children are out of work are avail- 
able in the records of the Employment Supervision Bureau.' 

' See ante, p. 230, note, and Appendix VII for an account of the work 
of this bureau. 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 327 

An examination of the records selected at random of 279 boys 
between fourteen and sixteen, who had left school to go to work 
two years earlier and whose work records were complete, 
showed that 10 per cent had not been able to find any work, that 
44 per cent had worked less than half of the time since leaving 
school, and that 56 per cent had worked less than two-thirds of 
the time, and that only 10 per cent had been employed as much 
as nine-tenths of the time since they had left school to go to 
work.' 

Other statistics are available for another group of 135 
children, all of whom had been out of school for periods of from 

' The last report of the Chicago school census taken by the Department 
of Compulsory Education contains the following statistics relating to 
children between fourteen and sixteen {School Census, 1914, p. 15): 

School Attendance and Employment of Chicago Children 
BETWEEN Fourteen and Sixteen Years of Age 

Attending public or private schools 73,070 

"Out of school and out of work for thirty consecutive days".. 942 

"Working" 14,854 

Total population between ages of fourteen and sixteen . . . 88,866 

This table is somewhat difficult to understand because it is not clear 
whether or not the 942 children who are said to be neither at school nor at 
work for thirty days are children with employment certificates or children 
supposed to be attending school but absent from school. Nor is it clear 
whether the children classified as "working" were actually employed or 
merely reported as employed because they had been given working papers 
and were out seeking work. In any event, although to those who have ex- 
perience in the work of finding "jobs" for children it seems almost incredible 
that the number of children between fourteen and sixteen who were neither 
at school nor at work was only 942, yet attention may be called to the fact 
that if this be the correct number, it must be accepted with the understand- 
ing that it gives only a flashlight view of the situation. One thousand 
children may be out of work one month and another thousand children 
out of work another month, and so on. So that during the year several 
thousands of children would have had the demoraUzing experiences of 
idleness. Since the writing of this chapter a very exceptional situation 
with regard to the employment of children has developed. See note at end 
of chapter. 



328 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

one to two years/ The records of these children showed that 
i8 per cent of them had never had any work at all, and although 
exempt from school attendance on the ground that they were 
"lawfully employed," they had merely been looking for work or 
idling for a period of not less than twelve months; 6 per cent 
had worked for periods varying from a few days to one month; 
lo per cent more had had work for periods varying from four to 
eight weeks, and 7 per cent more for periods varying from eight 
to twelve weeks. In addition, therefore, to the 18 per cent 
who had been idle for at least twelve months, another 23 per 
cent had been idle for at least nine months, and 24 per cent more 
worked three months and less than six months. Summarizing 
these percentages, 65 per cent of the children had been idle at 
least six months, one-half or more than one-half of the time 
that they had been out of school. 

Not only are many of these children idle the greater part 
of the time, but when they do find work, it is largely in unedu- 
cative, undisciplinary, "blind-alley" occupations that are likely 
to lead to nothing but a "dead end" and unemployment in the 
future. The way to the skilled trades which is through union 
regulations is almost wholly closed to children under sixteen. 
The skilled workman, trade-unionist or not, is always opposed 
to child labor. With reference to this point, the director of 
the Employment Supervision Bureau in testifying at the hear- 
ing of the subcommittee of the Illinois House of Representatives 
in 1 9 15 on the need of a new child labor bill said: 

The trades do not employ children under sixteen. The employers 
in the more skilled lines of work refuse to take children because they 
have not had enough training, they are too immature, they are too 
childish and irresponsible, and employers find that it is an economic 
waste to bother with them. So we find these children going into the 

' The records of these children were transcribed by Miss Chamberlain, 
of the University of Chicago. The cases were selected at random from the 
records that gave the complete employment history of children who had 
had their working papers for at least one year. 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 329 

more unskilled work. The majority go into the box factories where 
they "turn in," "cover," "bind," and "tie"; into the candy factories 
where they wrap and pack candy; and into the low-grade tailor shops 
where the majority pull bastings and brush clothes, but few do any 
form of needle-work. They go into the department stores where 
they are employed as cash girls, as inspectors, as stock boys, and 
messengers; a few enter the boot and shoe factories where they tie 
and cut threads, polish and clean shoes, tag and lace and assemble 
parts of shoes; they go into the engraving shops where they feed 
a little hand machine; and into the moulding and picture-frame 
factories where they wrap and carry moulding. A few are employed 
in the knitting mUls where they cut threads, sort, count, tie, and 
label; a few work in the laundries where they shake and mark 
clothes; a few are employed in the book binderies where they fold, 
or feed a wire stitching machine. Many are employed in the novelty 
shops where they do such mechanical processes as counting and sort- 
ing, tying tags, etc. ; a few are employed in the bakeries where they 
pack and label; a few are employed in the press-clipping bureaus where 
they clip items from the newspapers; a great many go into the soap 
factories where they wrap soap, and into various factories where they 
do such unskilled work as labeling; and a few are employed in offices. 
The child is not learning a trade or doing anything by which he 
may earn his living later in life. One might readily think that the 
cash girls in a department store in a few years become sales girls, but 
the large majority when they are too old for children's tasks, seek 
employment in low-grade factories because they are unfitted for any 
special line of work.^ 

It seems to be clear then that the years between fourteen 
and sixteen are most wastefuUy spent by the children who are 
given employment certificates and leave school to go to work, 
or, more frequently, to drift idly about the streets during this 
impressionable period of adolescence. 

It may be claimed, of course, that in many cases the parents 
need the children's earnings, but it has already been shown that 

^ Report of the Illinois Child Labor Committee: Why Illinois Wants 
a New Child Labor Law: A Digest of What the Sub-Committee Found (igij). 



330 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

small earnings or no earnings at all are the result. Under the 
present system the poorest people are sorely tempted to make 
use of the freedom that the law gives them to send their children 
out to look for work, without realizing that the boy or girl for 
whom such heavy sacrifices have already been made will be 
spending the greater part of two years in demoralizing idleness 
for the sake of an occasional small wage or none at all. The 
ignorant and discouraged parent, weary of the desperate struggle 
with poverty, may be excused for wanting some help from the 
children he is trying to support, but the law should protect 
both child and parents by making it impossible for the child's 
future to be jeopardized in a fruitless attempt to meet the 
family necessities. "She might as well wear her shoes out 
going to work as going to school," said an overburdened mother 
who was insisting on putting an undeveloped child to work. 
"I've fed her for fourteen years and now that the law says she 
can help feed me and the other children, she's got to do it," was 
the bitter reply of an unemployed father to a request that his 
little girl might be allowed to stay in school until she was better 
fitted for work. "Do please find me a job, missus," was the 
plaintive request of a small boy of fourteen at the door of a 
friendly settlement. "My father says I can't come home if I 
don't get a job. He won't feed a bum, he says, 'No work, no 
eats.' " Such ignorant or desperate parents need to be pro- 
tected against themselves. They gain nothing in the end by 
being allowed to take their children out of school and see them 
grow into worthless men and women. There can be no doubt 
that in too many homes, the pressure of poverty is so great that 
the children, if at work, would be, in the terms of the statute 
"necessarily .... employed." But the "necessity" of the 
work must be estimated not by the poverty in the home, but 
in terms of its educative value from the point of view of their 
later industrial life and their fitness for citizenship. As a 
matter of fact, the experiences into which these children are 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 331 

led in securing their jobs, often by overstating their age, gener- 
ally in a purely casual and accidental manner, in leaving job 
after job or being laid off, in loafing between jobs, in over- 
strain, in being victimized by violations of the child labor law, 
and at best, in work which is monotonous, irregular, or in itself 
demoralizing, are such as tend in no way toward their proper 
physical and mental development. 

On the other hand, nothing is finer than the eagerness of 
these poor children to share in the family responsibility. So 
long as the law gives them any choice in the matter, the children 
who are most ambitious and industrious are the ones who will 
feel it their duty to leave school if it means lightening in the 
smallest degree the family burden. Social workers who come 
in close contact with the family problems of the poor find in- 
numerable examples of this desire on the part of very young chil- 
dren to assume some part of the family burdens. Thus a little 
boy from an immigrant Italian family who asked for help in 
finding work reported that his father was dead and his mother 
could not leave the three small children to go to work, and 
he looked upon the finding of a "job" as an imperative duty. 
When he was told that he was too small and undersized to go 
to work, he burst into tears, asking, "Who's going to support 
the family if I can't work?" A similar situation was that 
of a small Hungarian boy who was found to be working under 
age. When he was told that his working papers would have to 
be canceled he, too, wept bitterly and asked over and over 
again, "Who'll pay the rent? Who'll take care of the chil- 
dren?" Fortunately in both of these cases the families were 
found to be eligible for "widows' pensions." 

In another family, Elizabeth, who was the oldest of eight 
children, was very small and had reached only the sixth grade 
when she attained her fourteenth birthday. Her father was an 
invalid, and she at once looked upon herself as the head of the 
family and went immediately in search of a "job." With the 



332 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

assistance of a charitable agency, work was found in an office 
where she was to help with the filing, but when it was discovered 
that she was too small to reach the files, the employer was about 
to discharge her. Touched by her eagerness in asking if he 
had not some other work that she could do till she grew taller, 
because she had a sick father and seven little brothers and 
sisters to take care of, the employer found a place for her in 
another department. 

There is no desire to minimize the value to the child of the 
sense of responsibility and family devotion, but this should not 
become a heavy burden while the child is too immature to carry 
it. As the child is prevented from allowing his affection for 
his family to drive him into wage-earning at the age of twelve, 
so he can be protected at the age of fourteen, when he is like- 
wise too young to assume the responsibilities of family main- 
tenance. 

Leaving the question of "necessitous" children, attention 
must be called to the cases in which children leave school when 
their earnings are not needed in the home. Many parents in 
comfortable circumstances who, if required by law to do so, 
could keep the child in school until sixteen without any hard- 
ship or deprivation in the home, are so careless and indifferent 
or so shortsighted and unintelligent that they take the child 
out of school the moment the law allows them to do so. Such 
parents fail to realize the value to the child of the two additional 
years in school on the one hand, and, on the other hand, they 
do not understand the unprofitable nature of the occupations 
open to their children. 

The director of the Employment Supervision Bureau on the 
basis of a careful study of the records of children who had applied 
for work and whose home circumstances had been investigated, 
estimated that, in more than two-thirds of the cases, the 
families did not need the help of the children who were never- 
theless obliged to leave school on the very earliest day the law 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 333 

allowed. In her testimony before the legislative committee she 
said that her records showed that the children 

are more often taken out of school by parents who wish to accumu- 
late property, or who sacrifice the education of the child in order that 
they may pay the monthly instalment on a piano or some other 
luxury. In one neighborhood in Chicago where the people are 
thrifty and nearly all own their homes, the children are taken out of 
school on the very day they reach fourteen. The little girls go into 
the tailor shops where they earn as little as $1 a week and the majority 
do not earn more than $3 or $3 . 50 a week. There are many children 
who leave school only because they are fourteen and the law gives 
them that liberty. There are many who leave because the parents 
are ignorant of industrial conditions; they think a child may learn 
a trade at fourteen, as formerly, but after a few months or^a year 
these children regret that they have left school because they find that 
industry does not offer the thing they are seeking. But few children 
will return to school after they have once secured their working 
permits. There are children who leave school because they do not 
like school, but the schools are now providing industrial work which 
appeals to those who are not academicaUy inclined and which will 
tend to keep more children in school.^ 

The following cases illustrate the waste that is occasioned 
by the "exemption" from school attendance granted to children 
who wish to leave school to seek employment between the ages 
of fourteen and sixteen. 

Anna X , a clever little Bohemian girl, left school on 

her fourteenth birthday although it fell on May 17, and she 
ought at least to have finished the school year. Her father and 
her older sister had regular work at good wages, and there were 
no younger children. She had done unusually well in school, 
but the father would not listen to any argument that she should 
be allowed to remain. There was no pretext that her earnings 
were needed, but the father said the mother was away on a visit 

^ Report of the Illinois Child Labor Committee: Why Illinois Wants a 
New Child Labor Law: A Digest of What the Sub-Committee Found, p. 5. 



334 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

and the little girl could do the housework. She was an excep- 
tionally nice child and had finished the fifth grade, although 
she had been in this country only four years, and she was eager 
to stay on in school. 

Louise Y , another little Bohemian girl, left the eighth 

grade on April 30, the day of her fourteenth birthday, and got 
a position in a local store at $2 . 50 a week. The family were in 
comfortable circumstances, and her earnings were not needed 
in the home. The father and two older children had good jobs, 
and there was only one younger child. Her work at the store 
lasted only a few weeks, and she then applied for assistance in 
finding other work. An effort was made to persuade her to 
return to school, but she could not be persuaded and said 
if she could not find a job she would just stay at home, 
although she had admitted that her help was not needed in 
the house. 

In some cases, the parents are dead, and the older brothers 
and sisters demand the child's employment. Such was the 

case with Anna G , a German-Polish girl whose parents 

were dead, whose brothers earn $33 a week and had only Anna 
and one younger child to support. They thought, however, that 
since Anna might lawfully work, she should do so, and by so 
much relieve them of her support. 

Sometimes the parents insist on the child's leaving school 
because of discouragement at the child's failure to progress in 

his school work. In the case of an Italian boy, Tony Z , 

his father kept him in school until he was fifteen and then got 
tired of sending him to school because he "was not learning 
anything." On investigation it was found that although Tony 
was nominally in the fifth grade, he could neither read nor 
write. The principal said that he had promoted him from time 
to time "to encourage him," but it appeared that he had never 
sent the boy to the Child-Study Department. When taken 
there by the social worker who had become interested in his 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 335 

behalf, he was found to be very subnormal and a fit subject for 
such a subnormal room as he could have attended in a neigh- 
boring school if he had been sent earlier to the department for 
examination. The father had, however, grown too discouraged 
to listen to any advice and insisted on taking the child out of 
school since the law permitted him to do so. 

It is sometimes possible to return to school a child who has 
not finished the eighth grade if his earnings do not appear to be 
needed in the home, but little effort seems to be made at present 
to return the child who has graduated. In many cases these 
children are eager to go on to the high school and realize, as their 
parents do not, that there is little chance of their finding work 
before they are sixteen and every chance of their spending the 
intervening two years wastefully and of not being able to get 
a good position when they reach the age of sixteen. These 
children do the same work as those who have not graduated, 
and have the same difficulty in finding work. 

Such is the case of Ethel A , an American child with 

American parents, the father a steamfitter earning $35 a week. 
In this case the child's parents refused to allow her to go to 
high school although she was very eager to do so. She applied 
to the Employment Supervision Bureau for assistance in finding 
work six months after she left school. An agent of the bureau 
called at the home and endeavored to persuade the mother to 
allow the girl to take a business course in a high school, and 
called the mother's attention to the fact that the girl had had 
only one week's work during the six months since she had been 
out of school. The mother wavered, but only temporarily, 
and refused finally and peremptorily to allow the child to go 
to school. 

Another neat, nice-looking little girl who had graduated from 

the eighth grade was Gertrude B . She had not yet 

had a position and the Employment Supervision Bureau 
endeavored to find some office work for her. When she was 



336 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

first interviewed she was told that someone would see her 
mother and try to get her returned to school, but she said, 
" My teacher was over to see my mother and just talked her head 
off, but it didn't change my mother's mind one bit." The girl 
looked so young that up to the time of the report it had not 
been possible to find work for her; but although her father was 
willing, her mother firmly refused to allow her to return to school. 

Sometimes the fact that the child was "graduated" is held 
by the parents to entitle him to a work certificate, even if he 
is not fourteen, and if the certificate cannot be obtained, to 
justify his going to work without one. Such was the case of 

Max C , who was born March 25, 1901, and graduated 

from the eighth grade in June, 1914. The family was in very 
comfortable circumstances. The father was a machine opera- 
tor; a brother, twenty-one, was a moving-picture operator, and 
an older sister worked in an office. While the boy was still in 
school and before he was fourteen, he worked after school 
hours and on Saturdays for a tailor, running errands, and earned 
$3 a week. He graduated from the eighth grade three months 
after his thirteenth birthday, but did not go to high school 
because he did not like school, and he wanted to work. He was 
not old enough to get a certificate, and therefore worked with- 
out one in a coat shop where he earned $5 a week. Three 
months later he got a job with a vaudeville company, singing, 
and he earned $23 . 50 a week. He had traveled with this com- 
pany for six months before he was fourteen years of age. After 
nine months he lost his voice and had to give up his position, 
and is now drifting about. 

In such cases as this, the law should protect the boy against 
himself and his own foolish boyish impulses. In a very con- 
siderable number of cases, the parents are anxious to keep the 
boy in school, but the boy prefers "knocking about" trying 
different jobs and loafing between jobs. Such boys think of 
leaving school only because the law permits them to do so. 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 337 

For example, there is the case of Fred D , a bright 

Italian boy, whose father earned good wages and was anxious 
to have his boy stay in school. He was in the first year in high 
school when his fourteenth birthday came, although he was six 
years old when he came to this country. But he was " tired of 
school," and although he had no "job" in sight he left school. 
His father said the law helped him to keep his child in school 
until he was fourteen, but after that he was left helpless, 
although he wanted his boy to be better trained and educated 
than he had been. 

A similar case is that of Willard M . He came from 

a good home, did well in school and could perfectly well have 
gone through high school, but he had just "got tired of school" 
and decided to go to work. His parents got him a job in a rail- 
road ofl&ce and he is not doing badly. But he will surely feel 
later the lack of the further education he might have had. 

Thus at present the children who could perfectly well afford 
to stay in school are now leaving on the slightest pretext 
because they know that the law permits it. Such children and 
their parents need the protection of a more adequate compul- 
sory school law, and the state needs the means of thus raising 
the intelligence of its future citizens. 

Sometimes it is a girl who refuses to submit longer to the 
discipline of the schoolroom. Three girls in the eighth grade 
who sat together and were unruly were told by the principal 
that unless they studied more they would be unable to graduate 
at the end of the year. They forthwith demanded their work- 
ing papers and left. Fortunately, the vocational supervisor 
to whom the principal sent them was able to show them how 
foolish they were and they returned to school. 

The case of Delia Y is a very good example of a child 

who did not need to leave school. Her family was in very 
comfortable circumstances, her relationship to the school was 
pleasant, and she merely left because the law allowed her 



338 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

to do so. Delia left school two weeks after her fourteenth 
birthday, although she was in the eighth grade, and the prin- 
cipal reported that she was doing good work and that it was 
a misfortune that she should be allowed to leave school before 
her graduation. The family was not in need of her earnings, 
for the father and an older brother and sister were working. 
The mother said that she had tried to keep Delia in school, but 
the girl had been offered a position at a near-by dry-goods store, 
had insisted on leaving school, and had gone to work without 
a certificate. Within a few days the manager of the store had 
discovered that the girl had no certificate, had reprimanded the 
department manager for taking her on, and discharged her. 
A visitor from the Employment Supervision Bureau where she 
had applied for help visited the home, and the mother said that 
she could not possibly get the girl to go back to school, and that 
if she did not get a certificate and go to work, she would simply 
be on the street. Another attempt was made to persuade the 
child to return to school, but it was useless, and the certificate 
was finally issued. 

Much is said about the fact that children get tired of school, 
as though the school had little to offer them and their continued 
enforced attendance were perhaps of slight importance. The 
school is of course sometimes at fault here, since an occasional 
teacher is guilty of thinking that a troublesome child is learning 
very litttle and might just as well leave school as remain to be 
a nuisance to the teachers. Moreover, it is at least open to 
question whether or not the schools are doing all they might 
do to counteract the prevalent assumption that the fourteenth 
birthday means the end of school, and whether the schools are 
as yet doing their part in educating children not to think of 
fourteen as an age of possible withdrawal from school. 

This is not the place to discuss, if we were able to do so, the 
phenomenon of adolescence, but the importance that has been 
assigned to the fact that the boy or the girl wearies of the sorely 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 339 

needed discipline of the school seems at times to be given 
exaggerated emphasis. The schools obviously are not beyond 
the possibility of improvement, but with all their weaknesses 
there is certainly no other agency that can so well serve these 
children at the time when their minds are most eager and awake. 
It is surely a fatal error that they should be allowed to slip 
away from the beneficial and illuminating influences of the one 
educational agency that can reach them, only to be thrown 
without supervision into uneducative work or into the life of the 
streets. 

The present law requires that children between fourteen 
and sixteen must be either at school or at work. There are, 
it has been pointed out, many reasons why the law should be 
changed and no children allowed to leave school to go to work 
before the age of sixteen. But whatever the age at which a 
child is granted an employment certificate, no such certificate 
should be issued until employment has actually been found for 
him. That is, no employment certificate should be issued 
unless the child has a definite promise of a job, such as a signed 
statement by an employer that he is ready to employ the child 
on a certain day. The recent report of the Children's Bureau 
on the Connecticut employment certificate system is emphatic 
upon this point and says that "if an employment certificate is 
to be in reality what its name implies and not merely a permit 
to leave school for any purpose whatever," then it must not 
be granted unless the authorities have knowledge that the cer- 
tificate is required for purposes of employment. "On the other 
hand, if the child has no position promised this requirement 
prevents him," the report of the Bureau points out, "from 
getting out of school merely to roam the streets."^ 

Again, whatever the age at which an employment certificate 
is issued, it is essential that for the first two years after the child 
leaves school to make the difficult transition into his working 

* Employment Certificate System in Connecticut, p. 39. 



340 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

life the school should continue to have supervision over him. 
That is, although attendance at school may cease to be compul- 
sory provided the child is legally at work, school attendance 
should be required if he is out of work. The state should 
take no chances with the demoralizing results of idleness. The 
boy or the girl who does not work should not be allowed to 
"loaf" but should be required immediately to return to school. 
In order to know whether or not children are at work, employ- 
ers of juvenile labor should be required to send notice when a 
juvenile worker leaves his employment. There are, of course, 
difficulties in the way of enforcing such laws. Fortunately, 
some states have already made experiments with the sending 
of such notices and there is available some testimony with 
regard to the best methods of carrying out such a plan. The 
Children's Bureau, for example, offers much valuable comment 
on the use of termination notices in Connecticut. To quote 
again from this valuable study of the Connecticut system: 

"The provision that unemployed children must go back to 
school is the most difficult part of the law to enforce. In the first 
place it is entirely dependent upon the sending in by employers 
of termination notices. If the employer fails to send this notice 
the child may be either unemployed and not in school or illegally 
employed for months unless he is accidentally discovered 

"A second reason for the difficulty in getting unemployed 
children back to school is that no provision is made in the schools 
for profitably utilizing their time. In some places these children 
are put in ungraded classes, but as they have already passed the 
educational test for a certificate this provision does not by any 
means fill their needs. Where in the absence of ungraded 
classes they are put back into the regular grades their condition 
is even more unsatisfactory, for they find themselves in a lower 
grade than they would have been in if they had remained in 
school, and at the same time in the company of children who 
are in many ways less mature than themselves • 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 341 

"Recognizing the lack of opportunity in the schools and 
the lack of welcome there, the agents of the State board of edu- 
cation, instead of attemptmg to send unemployed children back 
to school, often attempt to find new positions for them." 

Before the return of unemployed children to school can be 
systematically enforced, special rooms or schools must be pro- 
vided for them. Otherwise they will, of course, upset the school 
routine. Moreover, as the investigators of the Children's 
Bureau point out, " The ordinary schools .... are not adapted 
either to hold the interest of children who have been at work 
but are temporarily unemployed or to give them the kind of 
instruction which they need." 

A satisfactory program for the care of children who have 
just completed the period of full time compulsory attendance 
should require a further period of compulsory attendance 
during a few hours each week at continuation schools provided 
to meet the special needs of working children. This is obviously 
not the place for a detailed discussion of the work of continua- 
tion schools. Attention must, however, be called to the fact 
that boys and girls leaving the public schools to go to work 
should not suddenly be released from all educational influences 
and from all supervision and control by the educational 
authorities. The continuation school, largely developed in 
Germany and to a lesser extent in England and Scotland, has 
been devised to meet this need. In the words of Professor 
Sadler: "The purpose of the continuation school is to provide 
at convenient hours further instruction for those who have 
already left the day school and have entered upon the practical 
work of life whether as apprentices or as independent wage- 
earners or in the duties of the home."^ 

' "It endeavors to meet the needs of both sexes. It presupposes a suffi- 
cient basis of elementary education but, where that is defective, attempts 
to supply it. The lower age-limit of its pupils varies according to the age 
at which boys and girls are released from compulsory attendance at 
the elementary day school. In the more advanced stages of its work the 



342 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

In 1909 the English Board of Education submitted to Par- 
liament the report of the " Consultative Committee on Attend- 
ance, Compulsory or Otherwise, at Continuation Schools," and 
the findings of this committee should be carefully studied in 
our own country. The committee emphasize the fact that in 
England as in our American cities and states, the years 
from fourteen to sixteen are years of "educational leakage," 
that children of fourteen are not "fitted when they leave the 
day schools to be transferred to their various callings or occu- 
pations without further school attendance": and the report 
notes that at present the permanent interests of the community 
are not protected "from the injury which is done to the charac- 
ter and prospects of individuals as well as to the civic welfare 
and economic resources of the nation by educational neglect 
during adolescence and by deteriorative conditions of early 
employment. The committee find that at the most critical 
period in their lives a very large majority of the boys and girls 
in England and Wales are left without any sufficient guidance 
and care. This neglect results in great waste of early promise, 
in injury to character, in the lessening of industrial efficiency 
and in the lowering of ideals of personal and civic duty. 

"That there is need in this country for the systematic 
encouragement of suitable and practical kinds of continued 
education beyond the now too early close of the Elementary 

continuation school includes many different forms of adult education. The 
higher age-limit of its province is therefore undefined. The task of the 
continuation school thus falls into two main, though not clearly demarcated, 
divisions— the elementary and the advanced. Its work is in part general 
education, but increasingly (though by no means exclusively) technical. 
Its function is two-fold: to prepare its pupils for the efficient discharge of 
the duties of citizenship and to increase their power and skill in bread- 
winning occupations. For those who leave the elementary school at thir- 
teen or fourteen years of age and cannot proceed to a secondary school, the 
continuation school attempts to give during adolescence and early man- 
hood or womanhood such opportunities of further training as the exigencies 
of employment may permit." M. E. Sadler, Continuation Schools in Eng- 
land and Elsewhere, p. 689. 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 343 

Day School course is the conclusion which has been reached by 
all those who have recently investigated the subject."^ 

It is essential, if the continuation school is adequately to 
meet the needs of these young working children, that attend- 
ance should be compulsory and that the working hours of 
children should be so adjusted that they may be able to attend 
day sessions. The old method of continuing the education of 
children leaving school at fourteen was to provide good evening 
schools for them, which duplicated the work of the day schools 
and provided for the ambitious boy or girl a chance to graduate 
from the eighth grade or the high school. It has been proved 
that this method is wholly inadequate. Young children just 
leaving school to go to work cannot, without undue fatigue, 
attend evening classes after a day's work in a factory or an 
office. The German system of compulsory day continuation 
classes, which permits no school for working children to be open 
after seven o'clock in the evening, is the only rational method 
of meeting this problem. 

With regard to the question of making attendance at con- 
tinuation schools compulsory and not voluntary, attention is 
called to the following emphatic statement from a recent study 
of the continuation school: 

"If there is one point upon which authorities who have had 
experience of voluntary and compulsory continuation schools 
in England, Germany, and America, agree today, it is upon the 
necessity of a compulsory system. All over Germany one hears 
the same tale, .... 'We only adopted the compulsory prin- 
ciple when the voluntary had broken down.' .... The desire 
and power to attend continuation classes does not depend solely 
on the willingness of the employer to allow such attendance 

' See Great Britain Board of Education, Report of the Consultative 
Committee on Attendance, Compulsory or Otherwise, at Continuation Schools. 
Cd. 4757 (1909) I: p. 16. And see Sadler, op. cit., chap, xxv, "Should 
Attendance in Continuation Schools Be Made Compulsory in England ? " 



344 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

but on a dozen variable conditions, due to family, health, 
employment, surroundings, prospects, and so forth. In any 
case it must always leave out of account just that section of the 
children who most need the regular influence of humane and 
sympathetic persons."^ 

The compulsory continuation school provides a definite 
practicable method of keeping in touch with children after the 
period of full-time compulsory attendance has come to an end. 

Not only are continuation schools needed as a connecting 
link between the schools and the child who is thrown suddenly 
into the working world, but there is need also of a bureau of 
employment supervision which shall save the child the waste- 
ful "hunt for a job" and see that he is placed in work to which 
he is suited and in which he may advance. Such a bureau will 
also prove to be indispensable in connection with any attempt 
to return boys or girls to school when they are out of work. 
For if the oflScial school employment bureau can find no suit- 
able "jobs" for them, it is obvious that they must be kept in 
school until such jobs are available. Moreover the existence 
of such an employment bureau will be of great service if an 
attempt is to be made to prevent any child from leaving school 
until a promise of work has been secured for him.^ This work 
of supervising and guiding the working child, however, is at 
present in a large measure palliative. For it is apparent that 
no method of "guidance" can succeed with uneducated children 

' R. H. Best and C. K. Ogden, The Problem of the Continuation School 
(London, 1914), p. 56. 

^This system has been successfully tried in many English cities through 
the co-operation between the public Juvenile Labour Exchanges and the 
local educational authorities. See our pamphlet, already referred to, en- 
titled "Finding Employment for Children Who Leave the Grade Schools to Go 
to Work, with its bibliography of English books and pamphlets dealing with 
the subject. ■ See especially, F. Keeling, The Labour Exchange in Relation to 
Boy and Girl Labour, and A. Greenwood, Juvenile Labour Exchange and 
After-Care. 



CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIXTEEN 345 

too young for any kind of successful work. "Employment 
supervision" or "vocational guidance" for boys who are allowed 
to leave school at the fifth grade or earlier and to whom nothing 
is open but errand-boy jobs or low-grade work in a box factory 
must necessarily be only a half-way remedial measure. It 
may succeed in finding for the boy the best employment that 
exists under the circumstances, but that best will be very poor. 
That is, no amount of supervision or guidance in finding work 
will take the place of adequate elementary education. With the 
raising of the child labor and compulsory education age, the field 
of work for such a bureau will, of course, be very widely extended. "^ 

^ Conditions with regard to the employment of children have suddenly 
changed since this chapter was written. The abnormal industrial condi- 
tions that have arisen from our "war prosperity" and the cessation of 
immigration have brought a great and pressing demand for labor. The 
scarcity of immigrant labor has led to a temporarily increased demand for 
boys and girls under sixteen years of age. Department stores and fac- 
tories that a few months ago were refusing to employ anyone under sixteen 
years of age are now advertising for boys and girls between fourteen and 
sixteen. One of the packing companies in the stockyards is employing chil- 
dren under sixteen to do the unskilled work that immigrants formerly did. 

At present there are not enough boys and girls to supply the demand. 
Employers complain that they have had "ads" in the daily papers for 
two or three weeks at a time, yet no one has responded. Firms which 
paid an initial wage of $4 . 50 a week are now offering $6 . 00 a week to errand 
boys of fourteen. Employers say that their agents have been walking the 
streets in search of boys and girls. It has not been unusual for an employer 
to offer fifty cents or a dollar a week more to an errand boy delivering a 
package to him, in order to get the boy to accept a position with him. 

The situation is demoralizing to the child. The great demand for boys 
and girls causes them to change positions frequently, and the continual 
shifting makes for unsteady habits. The principals of the elementary 
schools say that children who are leaving school have positions promised, 
and it is the prospect of an immediate job that is causing many to leave 
school. It is not surprising to find that there are also more complaints that 
children are working in violation of the child labor law. There is also serious 
danger of overwork. One employer who has not been able to get enough 
girls to do his work has been giving work to Uttle girls of fourteen employed 
in his shop, to take home to do at night. 



CHAPTER XXI 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 

In the foregoing chapters an attempt has been made to 
describe the administrative machinery which has gradually 
been developed to protect the right to the minimum of education 
which the state has undertaken to secure to all its children. It 
has been necessary to study the history of the long years during 
which the friends of education in Ilhnois fought for the estab- 
lishment of a free common-school system. During the succeed- 
ing period, the local authorities were busy providing the required 
school facilities but no attempt was made to enforce the use of 
those facilities, and the necessity of exercising compulsion on 
the community was not recognized by the state. Attention 
has been called to the gradual appreciation of the fact that, 
educational opportunities being provided, the child and the 
parent may have to be compelled to take advantage of them. 
Finally, a careful examination of the situation in Chicago indi- 
cates that, although the principle of compulsion has been 
accepted, there are defects in the legislation and in the adminis- 
tration of the law which deprive many children of the education 
ostensibly secured to them by law. 

To meet these various defects in the compulsory education 
situation, radical changes are needed both in the child labor 
and compulsory education laws. Without waiting, however, 
for these legislative changes, an improvement in the local situa- 
tion could be brought about by certain changes, easily made, 
in educational policy. We do not undertake to recommend in 
detail the action to be taken, but we venture to suggest in some- 
what general terms, certain changes the desirability of which 

346 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 347 

seems to be established. The necessary statutory changes may 
briefly be summarized as follows: 

1. That a state board or department of education be created 
which shall have, among other functions, the duty of supervising 
and standardizing the enforcement of the school attendance 
laws in all portions of the state. The compulsory education 
laws need not, like the factory acts, be exclusively enforced by 
state inspectors; but state educational inspectors should be 
authorized to see that the local authorities through their 
indifference do not nullify the law. Moreover, the state school 
funds should be distributed upon the basis of attendance rather 
than of enrolment or of minor population. ' 

2. That the exemption from school attendance of children 
between fourteen and sixteen "lawfully and necessarily em- 
ployed" be done away with. 

3. That the age of children who may be committed to the 
Parental School be raised to sixteen years. 

4. That the age of lawful employment of children be raised 
from fourteen to sixteen years. 

5. That the issuing of working papers be taken from the 
local school superintendents and given over to the state edu- 
cation authority. 

6. That the new standard for the issuing of working papers 
should prescribe not only a new minimum age, sixteen instead 
of fourteen, but also (a) a minimum of physical development 
which shall insure that no child be put to work when he is 
physically unfit for work, and (b) a new minimum of educational 
development. The words "in English" should be added in the 
new law to the reading and writing tests, in order that every 
child, foreign or native born, may include as one of his working 
tools a knowledge of the language of the country. But the edu- 
cational minimum should be higher than this. To the present 

' Note that the early laws provided for the apportionment of funds 
according to attendance. See Appendix i, doc. 5, p. 363. 



348 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

educational test should be added requirements as to a knowledge 
of arithmetic, which shall ensure that no child shall leave school 
to go to work before he has completed the sixth grade. This 
is, of course, an inadequate and unsatisfactory minimum. As 
a matter of fact, it is little enough for a democracy to require 
that all its children shall complete the work of the elementary 
schools. This can easily be done if the compulsory attendance 
age is extended to sixteen. It could, however, be done now 
if the compulsory attendance period began at five or even six, 
instead of seven years. Certainly the vast majority of children 
between five and seven are better off in a well-conducted school 
than they are in the streets or in an ill-kept home. 

7. In addition to raising the age at which compulsory attend- 
ance shall cease, we venture to recommend that a system of 
compulsory day continuation schools be developed and that 
attendance upon these be required of working children under 
eighteen years of age for a certain specified number of hours 
per week. In this way, and in this way only, can the school 
keep under its supervision during the first difficult years of their 
working life the children who leave school to go to work.^ 

' It is interesting to note that our experience in regard to the waste- 
fulness of boy and girl labor has been duplicated in England, and that the 
remedy of the continuation school was recommended in 1909 by the Royal 
Commission on the Poor Laws and the Relief of Distress. "We have there- 
fore come to the conclusion," says the minority report, "that, if we want 
to turn into trained and competent workmen the 300,000 boys who now 
annually start wage-earning at something or another, there is only one 
practicable plan: we must shorten the legally permissible hours of employ- 
ment for boys, and we must require them to spend the hours thus set free in 
physical and technological training J' The majority report also recommends 
raising the school-leaving age to fifteen and "school supervision until six- 
teen, the re-placement in school of boys not properly employed." It is un- 
fortunately true that the English boy or girl who leaves school to go to work 
has, in the great majority of cases, reached a higher grade in school than the 
American boy or girl who goes to work. Our schools may or may not be 
better than, for example, the London "Council Schools." At any rate we 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 349 

8. That provision be made for the regular attendance at 
special continuation schools of children between sixteen and 
eighteen who are not at work. In order that the school may 
keep in touch with the children who leave to go to work and 
in order that these children may not suffer from the demoral- 
izing effects of idleness, the law should require the employer 
to return to the educational authorities the working certificate 
of any child leaving his employ; and it would then be the duty 
of the educational authorities to secure the immediate return of 
this child to school pending the finding of a new "job." More- 
over the duty of securing the new "job" should devolve upon 
the local school authorities. That this can be done has been 
demonstrated by the successful work of the Employment Super- 
vision Bureau which is now maintained by the Chicago Board 
of Education. 

9. Finally, education should be made compulsory to some 
extent for all illiterate minors, a class of persons not provided 
for at present by the Illinois law. These illiterates would be 
young persons under twenty-one years of age, immigrants from 
Europe, or newcomers from other American states which at 
present make no provision, or inadequate provision, for com- 
pulsory school attendance. The new law should provide that 
all ilHterate minors must attend continuation schools until they 
have reached the age of twenty-one, and the maintenance of 
such schools with day as well as evening classes should in this 
way be made mandatory upon the local educational authorities. 

spend lavishly upon them. But a vast expenditure goes into the higher 
grades and high schools which a great majority of our working children 
never reach. The compulsory education period for the London boy or girl 
begins at five instead of seven. It is a serious question to which more 
thought should be given as to whether the child who is to leave school to go 
to work at the earliest age the law allows should not begin his period of 
compulsory attendance at five instead of seven years of age. If this is 
not done our continuation schools will be doing the work of the sixth, seventh, 
and eighth grades instead of providing high grade technological training. 



350 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Pending such changes as have been indicated in the school 
and child labor laws of the state, the following recommen- 
dations, which we beheve can be adopted by the Board of Ed- 
ucation without additional legislative authority, are suggested: 

1. That the system of recording attendance be so reorgan- 
ized that the facts with reference to non-attendance may be 
ascertained, 

2. That causes of absence justifying excuse by principals 
and teachers be enumerated and defined. 

3. That a transfer system be installed which shall mean the 
following-up of every child to whom a transfer is issued, until 
he is re-enrolled in school. 

4. That provision be made at the Parental School for truant 
girls. 

5. That the school census be taken annually in the early 
autumn instead of, as at present, biennially in the spring or 
early summer, and that a permanent register of all minors be 
kept with a record of their school attendance. This change 
should be made pending the estabhshment under state super- 
vision of a permanent census board. 

6. That there be gradually developed a staff of school visi- 
tors whose function it shall be to relate the school to the home 
and to render such services as will tend to do away with causes 
now leading to non-attendance and truancy. 

7. That the Vocational Supervision Bureau be developed 
and adequately supported so that every child may be saved 
from the demorahzation of "hunting a job" and idhng on the 
street or working at unsuitable employments. So long as we 
allow the poorest children in the community to go to work at 
the age of fourteen, the educational authorities should assume 
the obligation of keeping in touch with the child after he leaves 
school, finding suitable work for him if such work is available, 
and, in default of suitable work, exercising such pressure as 
the law allows to compel the return of the child to school. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 351 

Failing this, the community will continue to be troubled with 
the problem of ''baby bandits" and juvenile crime.^ The money 
expended on the Vocational Supervision Bureau will do much 
to prevent the expenditure of larger sums on probation officers, 
jails, and correctional institutions for dehnquent boys and girls. 
A further recommendation concerns the federal government. 
We adopt the suggestion that has already been made by those 
interested in the immigration problem that the federal immi- 
gration authorities at the various ports of entry to which 
immigrants are admitted should send the names and addresses 
of all immigrant minors to the educational authorities of the 
various cities and towns which the immigrants specify as their 
destination. Only in this way can the compulsory education 
laws be made of service to the immigrant children who are so 
sorely in need of their protection. Only in this way can the 
immigrant be promptly and properly Americanized. We recom- 
mend that the local educational authorities request the Com- 
missioner-General of Immigration and the Secretary of Labor 
to direct that such action be taken. 

' The report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws of 1909 may be 
profitably referred to again at this point. The minority report says, 
"With regard to the need for extending, to boys between fourteen 
and eighteen, something like the supervision and control exercised over 
them whilst at school, there is abundant evidence. At present, as in the 
past, it is mainly the 'juvenile adult,' between sixteen and twenty-^one, who 
recruits our prison population. It is the absence of any system of control 
and organisation for the employment of the young which is universally de- 
clared to be one of the principal causes of wrong-doing. 'When a boy 
leaves school the hands of organisation and compulsion are lifted from his 
shoulders. If he is the son of very poor parents, his father has no influence, 
nor, indeed, a spare hour, to find work for him; he must find it for himself; 
generally he does find a job, and if it does not land him into a dead alley at 
eighteen he is fortunate. Or he drifts, and the tidy scholar soon becomes 
a ragged and defiant corner loafer. Over 80 per cent of our charges admit 
that they were not at work when they got into trouble'" (Minority Report, 
Partll, p. 653). 



352 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

These recommendations we feel to be reasonable and con- 
servative proposals. They are very far from including all 
desirable changes, but they include those for which it seems 
practicable to ask at the present time, and even these moderate 
changes will, we believe, contribute largely to the efficiency of 
the school system. We do not claim that they will wholly 
solve the problems connected with compulsory school attend- 
ance. The heavy burden resting on the heads of families among 
the poor should never be forgotten. We have called attention 
to the fact that the various laws for safeguarding the rights of 
children create new rights in them and lay new duties on the 
father. The performance of these duties necessitates meeting 
the cost of the child's support and care out of the father's earn- 
ings instead of from the earnings of the child; and this should 
mean, must mean, in fact, a higher standard of wages for the 
father. Only when wages have been raised to correspond 
to the rising standards of child-care, will the real weaknesses 
in the present system be wholly done away with. 

It has not, perhaps, been sufficiently emphasized that tru- 
ancy and non-attendance are primarily problems of poverty. It 
is because people are poor that they are tempted to take their 
children out of school and to put them to work while they are 
very young. "Man cannot live by bread alone" it was said 
many centuries ago; but it is also true that man cannot live by 
books alone. So long as vast numbers of people find it so 
difficult, and at times impossible, to provide adequate food 
and clothing for the children for whom the state is providing 
education, just so long will many children find it impossible 
to attend school regularly. The earlier compulsory laws in 
several states provided that children might be excused from 
compulsory attendance on the ground of poverty; that is, the 
law recognized that there were families in the community in 
which the child's earnings even at an early age were so necessary 
that the family's need of maintenance must be placed above 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 353 

the child's need of an education. Later, the law abolished 
this exemption on the ground of poverty and became universal 
in its application; but the law in laying new burdens upon 
parents who are already so overburdened, gave no new resources 
with which to meet the added requirements. 

In a few states free instruction has been supplemented by 
free books, not for poor children alone but for all children. In 
a few countries the cost of the child's support has been shared 
when the educational authorities have also added free dinners, 
but the dinners are free only to destitute children. It is doubt- 
ful whether free dinners will ever be acceptable in this country 
unless like free education and free books, they are made free for 
all. If this is not done, those who most need the free services 
will not endure the humiliation of accepting them on the condi- 
tion of proving destitution. It is a hopeful sign that, in a de- 
mocracy like ours, people resent assistance for which they are 
singled out solely on the ground of their poverty.' But it should 
not be overlooked that even if these supplementary costs of 
education are made free, as instruction has now generally been 
made free, there remain the other costs of the child's mainte- 
nance for which his own earnings are no longer available when 
the state makes his school attendance compulsory. Obviously, 
the only solution in accord with the standards of a democ- 
racy is such a permanent lifting of the wage levels as will 
make possible the higher standard of living that is, in practice, 
demanded by the state. 

' It is interesting to note that when the free-school law of 1855 was 
passed, the proposal to make education free only for the poor was rejected. 
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction said in his report to the 
Nineteenth General Assembly of Illinois: "I cannot too strongly urge 
the importance of making education free, alike to the rich and the poor. 
The system which provides for the education only of the poor is necessarily 
unsuccessful. It has ever been, and ever will be, regarded as a part of the 
pauper system; and in a country like ours few will consent to appear on the 
pauper list." See Appendix I, doc. 10, p. 373. 



APPENDIX I 

EXTRACTS FROM DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE AGITA- 
TION FOR A SYSTEM OF FREE SCHOOLS AND A 
COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW 

Extracts from (i) Communication of Governor Duncan to the General 
Assembly, 1834; (2) Report to the State Senate, 1834: Organization 
of a State-Wide System of Free Schools; (3) Memorial of the Illinois 
Education Society to the General Assembly, 1841; (4) Inaugural Ad- 
dress of Governor Ford, 1842; (5) Memorial in Behalf of Common 
Schools, 1844; (6) Message of Governor Ford to the General Assembly, 
1844; (7) Report of the First State Superintendent of Common 
Schools, 1853; (8) Inaugural Message of Governor Matteson, 1853; 
(9) Biennial Report of the State Superintendent of Common Schools, 
1853; (10) ibid., 1855; (11) Message of Governor Matteson to the 
Twentieth General Assembly, 1857; (12) Report of the State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1867-68; (13) ibid., 1869-70; 
(14) ibid., 1871-72. 

(i) Extract from Communication of Governor Duncan to the 
Ninth General Assembly, December j, 1834 

As every country is prosperous and respected in proportion to 
the virtue and intelligence of its inhabitants, the subject of education 
will doubtless again form an important part of your deliberations. 
The State possesses a fund devoted to this purpose, amounting to 
something over one hundred thousand dollars. As this amount, if 
invested in stocks, is too small to produce an annual income at all 
proportionate to the wants of the present generation, I would recom- 
mend that a system be adopted, by which the amount of this fund 
may be divided equally among the people, and applied to the purposes 
of education, which may also provide for the future division, upon 
the same principle, of such other sums as may hereafter be derived 
from the United States, on account of the three per cent, set apart 
from receipt on sales of the public lands, the school sections, and 
such other sources as can, with propriety, be provided. 

3S4 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 355 

In a State like this, many parts of which are sparsely settled by 
people encoxintering those difficulties incident to the improvement of 
a new country, it would be wrong to think of accumulating a fund 
out of our present resources, for the exclusive education of future 
generations; while those, who are in a few years to give character 
to our society, and to direct the operations of our government, are 
permitted to grow up without the possibility of obtaining an edu- 
cation — that greatest of human blessings. 

It becomes us to use every exertion in our power to instruct those 
who are immediately dependent upon us, and leave to those who come 
after us, the rich revenues to be derived from the lands, canals and 
other improvements, to form a permanent fund to carry out any 
plans you may now adopt for the purposes of education. 

This view of the case derives force from the fact, that the general 
government in setting apart this fund and a portion of the public 
land for education, intended it as an inducement to the early settle- 
ment of the country. It would seem unjust therefore, that those 
who have done so much to fill the national treasury, and advance 
the interests of the country, should be compelled to witness a fund, 
intended as a reward for their labors and sacrifices, laid by for the 
benefit of those who may come after them. 

A government like ours, controlled and carried on by the will of 
the people, should be careful to use all the means in its power, to 
enlighten the minds of those who are destined to exercise so important 
a trust. This, and every consideration connected with the virtue, 
elevation, and happiness of man, and the character and prosperity 
of our state, and of our common country, calls upon you to estabhsh 
some permanent system of common schools, by which an education 
may be placed within the power, nay, if possible, secured to every 
child in the State. 

(2) Organization of a State-Wide System of Free Schools {Extract 

from the Journal of the Senate, Ninth General 

Assembly, February, i8j§) 

"Knowledge is power," and if knowledge be confined to a few, 
no matter by what name our government may be called, it woiild 
not be a repubHc, but an aristocracy. If, in our own community, a 



356 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

certain portion of the people be permitted to remain in ignorance, 
that portion will be better fitted for the use of the other, than 
they will be to discharge the duties imposed upon them by their 
country. It is the true policy of a free government to remove all 
unnecessary distinctions among its citizens, and to make all equal, 
not by puUing down those who are above, but by raising those who 
are below 

Our government is not adapted to an ignorant community, and 
its free institutions cannot long be supported by an ignorant people. 
Would we then preserve and perpetuate the free institutions of our 
country, one thing is essential, and that is, universal education. 
He who stops short of that, stops short of universal liberty. 

Universal education, then, is the great object to be gained, but 

how shall this be done ? The answer is, by means of schools 

Without the aid of schools, there can be no hope of an intelligent 
community 

What kind of schools will be most likely to accomplish our great 
object ? In some portions of our country the schools have been left 
almost entirely to individual exertion. In those portions, many 
persons may be found who are unable to read, especially among the 
poorer class of people. The same may be said of the poor schools, 
which have been established by law in some of the states. In those 
states, the legislatures seem to have acted upon a wrong principle. 
The education of the poor was regarded as an act of charity. "Let 
the rich educate themselves," they said, "and we will educate the 
poor." Now, whether this principle be right or wrong, its operation 
will at least show that it would be impracticable to adopt it here: 
for where it has prevailed, according to the best information that can 
be obtained, one third part of the whole people are unable to read, 
and what is more unfortunate still, that third part is chiefly con- 
fined to the poor. This principle would do very well for a monarchy, 
whose policy was to keep a portion of its subjects in ignorance; but 
in a government like ours, where the doctrine of equal rights is so 
much cherished, it seems strangely inconsistent that a principle which 
degrades the poor man, because he is poor, should so long prevail. 
This is, in reality, its effect, for the poor man has no chance to rise 
in the world, unless it be by education. Give him this, and he is, at 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 357 

once, placed upon a level with the rich — deny him this, and he is 
degraded. 

In other portions a different principle has been adopted. Com- 
mon education is regarded as a public benefit, and the schools are 
thrown open to all alike — they are free. The rich man's son, and the 
poor man's son meet on the same common level. Free schools have 
been adopted in the New-England states. New- York, and Ohio. 
What has been their effect ? for the principle, in this case, as in others, 
can be tested by its effects. In every state where free schools have 
long prevailed, it is very difficult to find a single person who is unable 
to read and write. The principle may be further tested by a well 
authenticated fact. In New- York, the proportion of children in 
schools, compared with the whole population, is as one to three 
and nine-tenths; in Massachusetts, as one to four; in Connecticut, 
as one to between five and six; in Kentucky, Virginia, and 
Illinois, according to the most accurate estimation, as one to about 
thirteen. 

Where free schools prevail, the state exacts of its people what 
they may have to give; of the rich man his money — of the poor man 
his children, educated and qualified to support the great principles 
of enlightened liberty. Free schools (and it cannot be said of any 
others) break down the unnatural distinctions in society. They 
carry out the doctrine of equality, and bring all upon a level, by 
making all enlightened. They have accomplished what no other 
schools have ever yet accomplished — -universal education. We 
may, then, safely come to the conclusion, that, whatever may be the 
system adopted in this state, the schools should be free. They are 
indeed the only common schools upon which a free government can 
with safety rely. 

This principle being settled, the inquiry then remains, what shall 
be the details, and how shall a system of common free schools be 
carried into practical operation in Illinois ? . . . . 

It has sometimes been said that it is not yet time to establish 
a system of schools in Illinois. It should be remarked, that if it be 
time to encourage the organization of a single school in the state, it 
is time to establish a system like this. This system proposes no 
compulsory measures; it interferes with no school district already 



358 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

formed. It merely proposes to encourage education by applying 
such means as are available, and it prescribes the manner in which 
it wiir apply them. Never were the people of Illinois more active 
and zealous on the subject of education, than they are now. They 
not only expect but they demand a better system of schools; and 
they have spoken to that effect, both at home and in their late con- 
vention; in a voice too that wUl be understood. So popular indeed 
is the subject of education now in this state, that it is advocated in 
every newspaper; its praises are sung on every "stump" and scarce 
an individual can be found who is opposed to it. 

There is another consideration which should not remain unnoticed. 
If the state should neglect to establish public schools, many indi- 
viduals would be compelled to organize private ones, for the edu- 
cation of their own children. These would be serious impediments, 
for when the state should attempt (and this will be done sooner or 
later,) to establish a general system of schools and seminaries, it 
could not then, as it can now, rely upon the influence and aid of such 
individuals. Their sympathies and feelings would be very naturally 
enlisted in favor of the schools of their own creation, and their 
children would not attend the public schools, the consequence of 
which would be to lessen the respectability of the public schools and 
deprive them of much of their usefulness. Unimportant as this 
may seem to be, it is a serious evil, and one which the state of New- 
York, with probably the best system of common schools in the 
country, has not yet overcome. Ought such a system be established 
in Illinois ? This is a question that we shall be called upon to decide 
and in deciding it, let it be remembered that we pass judgment upon 
no ordinary subject. This is a measure that will affect the interest 
of every parent and child in the community; a measure whose influ- 
ence will extend to millions now unborn, through ages yet to come. 
Our future liberty or future bondage may depend upon the decision 
of this, or a similar question. The time may yet come — it will 
come — when we must rally around our common schools, or bow our 

necks before the throne of arbitrary power True to ourselves, 

to our children and our country, let us cling to our common schools, 
and lay firmly and deeply the only foundation on which we can safely 
rely. 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 359 

Leave is, therefore, asked to introduce the accompanying Reso- 
lution and Bill. All of which is respectfully submitted. 

RESOLUTION 

Whereas, the subject of education is of deep and abiding interest 
to the inhabitants of lUinois; whereas, the time has arrived, when 
some efficient means ought to be adopted to effect the estabHshment 
of a uniform system of common schools, that wUl secure to aU classes 
at least a common education, to accomplish which, it will be necessary 
to establish a seminary in each county in the state, for the qualifi- 
cation of teachers for the common schools within the county; whereas 
the present resources of the country are altogether insufficient to 
effect this desirable object, and it is not in the nature of things, that 
the people of the state of lUinois, however animated their enterprise 
may be, can, with hope of success, engage in an undertaking of such 
magnitude, while aU their resources are continually drawn from them 
to the general government, by the sale of the public domain; and, 
whereas, the payment of the national debt has in a measure released 
the lien of the general government to the lands within this state, and 
has left much power in the hands of Congress to dispose of the public 
domain, for objects of permanent utility and advantage, by appro- 
priating, for the advancement of knowledge, a portion of those lands: 
Therefore, to enable this state to unite a uniform system of common 
schools and county seminaries, as indicated, and for that purpose 
to establish a seminary in each county for the quaUfication of teach- 
ers, and instruction in the higher branches of education, not however 
with such endowments as would exclude the hope of dependence 
upon individual enterprise and popular co-operation: 

Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, That our 
Senators and Representatives in Congress be requested to use all 
honorable means to procure the passage of a law by Congress, granting 
to the state of Illinois a reasonable quantity of land, or a portion of 
the proceeds of the sales of the public lands within this state, to be 
appropriated, imder the direction of the legislature, towards the 
support of the several county seminaries, for the quaUfication of 
teachers for the common schools. 



360 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

(3) Memorial of the Illinois Education Society to the General 
Assembly, 1841 

To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of Illinois: 

Gentlemen: The Illinois Education Society, assembled in 
Springfield, feeling a deep interest in the cause of education, and 
especially in the improvement of the school laws, by such slight 
amendments as experience has suggested to be necessary, would 
respectfully submit to your consideration the following suggestions, 
ist. That a reference to the act of 1818, which gave rise to our 
school funds, shows that Congress designed the general school fund 
"to be appropriated by the Legislature of the State for the encourage- 
ment of learning," in contradistinction to the grant of section num- 
bered sixteen in every township which was ' 'granted to the State for 
the use of the inhabitants of such township for the use of schools," 
that the latter was a grant to promote the education of the children 
of a particular township, whilst the former extended to the children 

of the whole State, irrespective of their place of residence 

The legitimate conclusion from these considerations is, that the 
interest upon the school fund should not be distributed to counties, 
according to population, but according to the number of children in 
school. The blessings of the fund can only be distributed to the 
children in school; and it is a singular position to assume, that the 
children in one county shall be the peculiar objects of legislative 
favor, because a great many of the children of the county do not 
attend school, and that the children of another county shall be less 
favored, because all or nearly all of its children are in school. If the 
number of children in schools is made the basis of distribution, equal 
justice will be done to all the children of the State, and the Legisla- 
ture will be faithful to the high trust committed to their charge. 

2d. As your memorialists desire that the legislation upon the 
subject of our township funds should be the most perfect, and that 
those funds should be most cautiously guarded, and as many of the 
people do believe that our township funds, though loaned at 12 per 
cent, will not (after paying all the losses, charges, and expenses 
incident to their management) actually pay more than six per cent. 
to the support of the schools, and that not punctually, (a matter of 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 361 

great moment to the school teacher,) they would recommend that 
the trustees of incorporated townships, and the school commissioners, 
should set forth in the reports, (which they are now by law required 
to make,) how much of the township fund is hopelessly lost — how 
much is doubtful — how much is in suit — how much is annually 
paid out to lawyers, clerks, sheriffs, and all others, in the manage- 
ment of said funds; and what proportion of the interest is paid 
punctually 

4th. If a majority of three-fourths of the legal voters of a town- 
ship should desire to tax themselves, to a limited amoimt, for school 
purposes, they should be permitted so to do. What evils could grow 
out of trusting three-fourths of the people of a township with the 
liberty of thus acting for themselves, in the education of their chil- 
dren ? This action would only affect the township concerned, and 
your memorialists do not believe that any portion of the people will 
pay more for education than it is worth, or that the power of improv- 
ing the schools of a township should be withheld from the people 
thereof, when they perceive the importance of cultivating the minds 
of their children, and are willing to tax themselves, that the light of 
science may shine upon them. 

Sth. The Legislature has wisely determined, that no teacher 
shall be permitted to receive more than half of his salary from the 
general school fund. Would it not be wise to give the townships 
which are, or shall become, incorporated, the power of making a 
similar provision in relation to their local funds, and of appropriating 
their surplus, if any, to the purposes of education ? The reason of 
this suggestion is obvious. If the educational funds entirely relieve 
parents from contributing towards the education of their children, 
they lose that interest in the schools which must be kept up if we 
have good schools 

6th. Upon the same principle of helping those who are willing 
to help themselves, your memorialists would suggest that, after the 
lapse of one year no school should be permitted to draw any portion 
from the State fund, unless the same should be kept up for the space 
of three months; and that after two years no school should derive 
any aid from said fund, unless kept up for the space of three months, 
and also, unless it should be taught in a house erected upon a school 



362 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

lot secured to the trustees of townships, as is now provided by law, 
(see Acts of 1835,) with this further principle annexed, that the 
schools taught in said houses should be open, upon equal terms, to 
aU white applicants of good moral character, irrespective of religious 

opinions 

8th. Let a superintendent of common schools be appointed — a 
man of talents — and yet a laborious and self-denying man. One 
who would go into all the dark corners, as well as bright spots, of the 
State, and labor day in and day out for the improvement of our 
common schools. Such a man would be of great use, not only in 
awaking the public to the importance of education, but by collecting 
facts for the information of your honorable body, and the people. 
.... He would (a matter of no mean moment to the success of 
common school education) do much towards bringing about a steady 
and uniform administration of the law 

(4) Misuse of School Funds (Extract from the Inaugural Address 

of Governor Ford to the General Assembly, 

December 5, 1842) 



As it has already been stated, the school fund amounts to 
104.39. Of this, $335,592.21 is derived from the surplus revenue; 
$415,575.52 from the three per cent, school fund, and $56,917.66 
from the sale of seminary lands. It appears also, that there is now 
due to the State on account of the three per cent, fund, the further 
sum of $37,206.39; and $41,909.35 appears to be coming to the Sta.te 
as our distributive share of the proceeds of the sales of the public 
lands. This latter sum, if received, the General Assembly can right- 
fully appropriate as the wants of the State may require, but the 
former is sacred to the purpose of education. It has been our former 
practice, on account of a deficiency of revenue and too much fear of 
levying adequate taxes, to borrow this fund as it occurred, to pay 
the current expenses of government, and promise an interest of six 
per cent, to be distributed amongst the several counties. Good faith 
to ourselves, to the United States from which it is derived, and to the 
rising generation, created the most sacred obligation that this interest 
should have been punctually paid in good money. On the contrary, 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 363 

it has been paid, for nearly a year past, in depreciated paper, and 
there is no provision by existing laws, for paying it otherwise in 
future. It does seem then that if we find ourselves unable to make 
payment in cash or its just equivalent, it is little better than robbery 
to continue the system of borrowmg, and a guilt but little less is con- 
tracted, if we refuse to make provision for paying interest in good 
funds, on the sum already borrowed. It is unfortunate that no system 
of revenue and expenditure has ever existed in this State; the appro- 
priations have generally exceeded the revenue, and hence the neces- 
sity of borrowing the school fund as a means of paying current 
expenses. 

(5) Extracts from a Memorial in Behalf of Common Schools, 
Passed at the Convention Held at Peoria in October, 1844 

[The first sections of the report contain recommendations deal- 
ing with the possible duties of state and county superintendents of 
schools, the school fund, etc.] 

§ 8 A majority of the inhabitants of a school district 

may vote to raise a tax for purchasing, building, or repairing school 
houses, and to defray the expenses attendant upon the schools. 

§ 9. The teachers to keep a faithful schedule of the attendance 
of all scholars, the correctness of which is to be certified to by the 
directors, upon which schedule the teacher shall draw his proportion 
of the public funds, pro rata, according to the number of days in 
attendance by the scholars. 

§ 10. No teacher to be allowed any proportion of the public funds 
11 he has not passed an examiaation and received a certificate to 
teach; and no school district shall be allowed any portion of the fund 
which does not keep up a regular school at least three months in the 
year. 

§ II. [Method of collecting the school tax.] .... 

The above embodies the principal changes which the convention 
thought best to attempt at the present session; and in conformity 
with the instructions of the conventions, we would ask permission 
to lay before your honorable bodies some of the reasons why a change 
of system is desired, and some arguments in favor of the above plan. 



364 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Public welfare affected by education. — Education is a measure, 
not merely affecting individual welfare, but one in which the public 
— the State — is concerned. Were the consequences of its neglect 
or attention confined entirely to individuals as they should be unedu- 
cated or educated, it might be questionable whether society could 
rightly interfere in its direction. But it is far otherwise 

Again, in our social organization we have submitted ourselves 
to be governed upon republican principles. By our votes we elect 
our rulers, and the vote of one counts equally with that of any other. 
Howsoever important, then, a good government may be, it is not 
more so than that we have good voters. The former necessarily 
depends upon the latter 

Change of present system necessary. — That our present school 
laws are insufficient to accomplish the objects of their enactment, 
requires no argument to prove. Our schools evidently are not what 
they should be. There is a listless apathy concerning them, more 
to be deprecated than fiery opposition, reigning almost supreme 
throughout the State. We need the adoption of some measures that 
shall arouse us from this death-like stupor, that shall infuse vigor 
into the frame, and induce to healthy, steady, persevering action. 
By some means the people must be made to feel that their most vital 
interests are at hazard, and that no slight efforts will suffice to secure 
them 

lUinois is peculiarly situated, and in the minor details of a system, 
we must depend mainly upon our own experience, and the knowledge 
of our own condition and necessities. Here we can find little amongst 
the systems of the old States to profit us. We have township as weU 
as State funds, for the use and preservation of which we are to pro- 
vide; there are the towns 'and the villages; the sparse settlements 
of the prairies; the scattered ones along the edges of large groves; 
the comparatively thick ones around small groves, often embracing 
parts of several townships; — all these varied circumstances, with 
numerous others, are to be considered, and there is little in the old 
States of like character 

Taxation for the support of schools. — We come now to consider, 
finally, the one great requisite of the proposed plan — taxation. Each 
of the other parts are considered essential, yet they are but machinery 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 365 

to work this result. We come out frankly and boldly, and acknowl- 
edge the whole system — every effort, is intended only as a means of 
allurement to draw the people into the grasp of this most awful 
monster — a school tax. 

But start not back in alarm. After all, he may not be so terrible 
as some have perhaps imagined. Used with skill and judgment, no 
other power can accomplish what he will; no other can work such 
changes in your common schools, and it is vain that we attempt to 
dispense with his services. All experience throughout the Union is 
in favor of his employment. We do not, however, propose coercing 
any to employ him who prefer to let him alone. All we ask is, to 
give those permission to use him who are so inclined; and others, 
when they witness his subordination, and power to work for the cause 
of education, will doubtless desire themselves to try his services. 

School tax necessary and right. — We believe our former position, 
that education is a public benefit, and indispensable to the welfare 
of the State, was sustained. It will also be granted, that parents and 
guardians of numerous children throughout the State, cannot afford 
them the means of education, and whatever instruction they may 
receive, must be paid for by others. That the State appropriation 
is sufficient, no one will contend Why, it will not pay inci- 
dental expenses, let alone the building and repairing of the school 
house and the teacher's salary. 

To pay for schooling the poor. — And will it be contended that all 
the balance shaU be supplied by those sending to school ? In this 
event poor parents must keep their children at home, or they must 
be exempted by law, and payment be forced from others sending to 
schools. The first, it is the effort of all to avoid, and the latter is 
most inexpedient and unjust. 

We acknowledge there is a private — individual — as well as public 
benefit derived from education, and aU who are able should, there- 
fore, be made to pay for it. But the expense of educating all the 
poor children; who shall pay for this ? A large portion of the popu- 
lation have just means sufficient to send their own children to school; 
and because they desire to educate them to the best of their ability, 
shaU they be ground to the dust by being made to pay for the instruc- 



366 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

tion of their neighbor's children ? Many, besides needing the serv- 
ices of their children in daily labor, know not how to incur the 
expense of schooling; shall they be compelled to keep their children 
at home by being informed if they send, they must not only foot the 
bill for their own children but the more they send, the more they 
must pay for others ? Manifestly it is inexpedient. 

If education be a public good, and there are those who must be 
educated at the expense of others, the expense should fall where it 
belongs — upon the public. It is wrong to make a portion of the 
people, no more able than others, pay for what is acknowledged to 
be for the good of all. Education is no exception to other public 
benefits. It inures, to be sure, to individual advantage, and what 
measure of general utility does not ? Then let the expense for this, 
as for other public objects, fall where it belongs — upon the property 
throughout the State. Any other method of compelling support is 
unequal — most unjust 

A school tax expedient in Illinois. — The long continuance of this 
method for supporting schools in many States; their warm com- 
mendations of it; and above all, the excellence of their common 
schools, where they are wholly or partially supported by a tax; speaks 
to us in its favor in the strong language of experience. There remains 
then, nothing for Illinois to do, but to adopt the practice. If a school 
tax be right and necessary, it would seem the people should be 
required to raise one, and the legislature should trust to the good 
sense and honesty of the people to sustain them in enforcing it 

A majority vote should decide. — At the last session of the Legis- 
lature, something of this character was introduced; but it was pro- 
posed to require a vote of two-thirds of the people of a township to 
levy a school tax. We do most earnestly pray your honorable bodies, 
to let the decision rest with a majority of the votes cast. Why 
should there be any fear of abuse under the law ? Certainly there is 
no danger of having too good schools; that too much will be paid to 
teachers; or that money M^ill be squandered by those who themselves 
pay it. To require a two-thirds vote looks very much as though one 
or all of these results were to be feared; and even should the event, 
in an occasional instance, prove the apprehension to have been well 
grounded, is it not probable that ten townships or districts would 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 367 

suffer from lack of means to support their schools, where one would 
suffer from a super-abundance that had been raised by a tax ? The 
people generally are not so fond of paying large sums for school pur- 
poses, that any great restraint need be cast around them. In other 
public measures, it is considered safe to trust to a majority to manage; 
and we can see no great danger in education, or of its too rapid pro- 
motion, that it should be singled out to be used with caution 

The more this subject of common school instruction is dwelt upon, 
the more transcendingly important does it appear. Never can more 
be done for it, than its due — never can it be estimated above its 
worth; and it is a source of the highest gratification to labor for its 

furtherance The subject is committed to your honorable 

bodies with the fullest confidence that it will receive at your hands, 
the attention it merits; and that such measures will be adopted, as 
in your united wisdom will appear best calculated to promote the 
object of all objects — the education of the people. 

While we rejoice in the republican motto, "Let the people rule," 
shall we ever forget that intelligence and virtue must be the actuating 
principles of our government ? What but these constitute the base 
of the entire fabric of our republican institutions ? . . . . Even now 
one-seventeenth part of our population over twenty years of age, can 
neither read nor write Let it come home to us, that the dis- 
trict school supplies the means — the only means — of qualifying at 
least nineteen-twentieths of the children of our State, to exercise the 
right of suffrage; that this is the means — the only means — by which 
nineteen-twentieths of the men — yes, and the wives and mothers too 
— soon to be on the stage of action, are to be prepared for discharging 
the high and responsible duties of life. 

Our object is "not to rear a smaU number of individuals, who 
may be regarded as prodigies in an ignorant and admiring age; 
but to diffuse as widely as possible that degree of cultivation, which 
may enable the bulk of the people to possess all the intellectual and 
moral improvement of which their nature is susceptible." It is too 
true that schooling does not always accomplish this; that men do 
not become educated according to their attendance upon school. 
Occasionally we find one who signs a deed with his mark, better 
educated, better qualified to perform the duties of a man and citizen 



368 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

than another who passed all the days of his boyhood and youth at 
the school house, academy or college. But these instances are only 
exceptions to the general rule. No father, worthy of the name, would 
desire to try the experiment with his son. The mechanical operations 
of reading and writing, and instructions in elementary branches of 
knowledge, will be imparted to him as the ground-work of future 
usefulness; and to acquire them, the great mass must resort to the 
district school. For this the district school is prized; for this we 
should, as far as in our power, compel all to render it support and 
countenance. We would, if possible, have no school too good for 
the child of humble origin; none too poor for the child of wealth and 
affluence. (The Memorial of a Committee of the State School 
Convention, held at Peoria in October last, upon the subject of Com- 
mon School Education, December 7, 1844.) 

(6) Extract from the First Message of Governor Ford to the Gen- 
eral Assembly, 1844 

The subject of common school education must necessarily attract 
your attention. It is one of the utmost importance to the well being 
of the people; the due provision for which is essential to the per- 
petuity of enlightened republicanism, and absolutely necessary to 
a proper and just administration of our democratic institutions. No 
system on this subject has yet been adopted, which has been satis- 
factory to the people; or which has been executed with efficiency in 
all parts of the State. But little statistical or other information of 
the actual operation of existing laws on this subject, has yet been 
collected to enable the General Assembly to legislate upon it with an 
enlightened judgment. Some means ought to be adopted, to collect 
this information; and I can think of none better than the appoint- 
ment by your honorable bodies of an agent, at once faithful and com- 
petent to the task; whose duty it would be to travel into every 
country, and if possible every neighborhood; and by a careful 
inspection and examination, collect this information for the use of 
the Legislature; and by lectures and every other means in his power, 
endeavor to impress upon the people the overwhelming importance 
of the education of their children. Such an agent ought to be a rare 
man; endowed with talents, zeal, and discretion of the highest order. 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 369 

Money expended on such an agency, if ably, faithfully and zealously 
executed, would be approved by the people, as being more for their 
benefit, than any other appropriation whatever. And if taxed for 
it, they would feel that they had been taxed for a purpose of the 
highest utility. 

(7) Extracts from the Report of the First State Superintendent 
of Common Schools to the General Assembly, 184/ 

The fact of only fifty-seven counties having complied with the 
request contained in my circular of the third of September, shows 
a most lamentable apathy and want of interest in the cause of edu- 
cation throughout the State. While some of the counties exhibit 
a commendable zeal and interest in the cause, others have mani- 
fested a most culpable negligence. It was not to be expected 
that very rapid progress would at first be made toward maintain- 
ing a system of common schools, which time and experience alone 
can perfect. 

In our sister States, where common schools have, for years, been 
the objects of not only the wise and fostering care of legislation, but 
have eUcited in their behalf, the zeal and efforts of the richest and 
most talented citizens, although they have advanced rapidly, yet 
according to their own reports and official statements much yet 
remains to be done. The practical operation of any school law in our 
own State, is yet to be tried. Notwithstanding our statute book 
has been encumbered with school laws, no one of them has ever been 
carried into vigorous and effective operation; and our people were, 
at the time the present law was enacted, as inexperienced in all the 
details necessary for the successful administration of the law, as if 
the question had been presented to them for the first time 

It is the want of information on the subject of popular education, 
that is the cause of the painful apathy which prevails amongst the 
people; a want of knowledge of the progress our sister States have 
made, and the means by which they have been enabled to carry their 
different systems into practical and successful operation 

Special taxes. — The 84th section of the school law, authorizes 
the legal voters, in the different school districts, to meet together and 
tax themselves for school purposes, building and repairing school 



370 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

houses, &c. In the fifty-seven counties from which I have received 
returns, only twenty-one have levied this tax. 

.... In the county of Cook alone, the inhabitants — deeply 
impressed with the importance of the common school education — 
have raised, by voluntary taxation, under the provision of the law, 
the large sum of five thousand two hundred and four dollars, 
which will continue and increase as an annual tax; and what has 
been the result ? Their schools are in a most flourishing condition. 
They have erected large and elegant school houses, procured com- 
petent and accomplished teachers, and have two thousand and ninety- 
five children in daily attendance at these nurseries of learning 

The large property holders are, in general, most strongly opposed 
to the assessment of taxes for school purposes. They are against it, 
because they are able to educate their own children without the aid 
of any public fund, and are unwilling to have their property taxed 
for the education of the poorer classes that have no property to tax. 

(8) Extract from the Inaugural Address of Governor Matteson to 
the Eighteenth General Assembly, i8jj 

I desire to invite your particular attention to the vital subject 
of education. We have a mixed population, emigrating from every 
sister state, and from almost every clime of the old world, and in order 
to be most beneficial, our schools should be conducted on a broad and 
comprehensive basis. Intelligence and virtue are at the foundation 
of our system of government, and the germs of these are best extended 
in our common schools. There are many, and perhaps very just 
complaints against the operation of the present school law, and it 
may weU be doubted whether it is not too voluminous and extensive 
to be fully understood and comprehended by all those who are 
intrusted with the direction of common schools. I submit to your 
consideration whether the desired end would not be better promoted 
by an entire repeal of all laws regulating common schools, and the 
adoption of a simple system, plain in its provisions, supported by 
tax upon property, when the school fund is not sufiicient for such 
purpose, and made free to aU alike. I desire to see a system by 
which every child, whatever its condition or parentage, may have an 
opportunity to obtain an education equal with the most affluent of 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 371 

our state — such as will fit them for any grade or condition of life. 
Our central position, our great commercial connections, our internal 
wealth, everything about us indicate for us a destiny of which any 
people might well be proud, but the most sacred duty demands of 
us that the rising generation be fitted in their intellectual capacity to 
give proper direction to these great interests. Should such modifi- 
cation of our school law be considered by the general assembly to be 
premature, I would recommend that a general superintendent of 
common schools be authorized, with such compensation as would 
command the best talent of our state, whose duty it should be to 
visit every school district in the state, having power to cause such 
organization, and the uniform use of such books as are best adapted 
to the improvement of the pupils. 

(p) Extract from the Biennial Report of the State Superintendent 
of Common Schools to the Eighteenth General Assembly, 18 jj 

The sum raised by ad valorem tax, for the support of schools in 

forty-six counties is reported to be $51,101.14 In twenty 

counties out of seventy-four, no such tax was levied, and the com- 
missioners of eight counties, in consequence of the default of township 
treasurers, were able to consider nothing relative thereto. 

In connection with this subject I take occasion to remark, that 
in many parts of the state, the question of providing by taxation for 

a system of Free Schools, is beginning to be agitated While 

many weighty reasons are urged in support of such a policy, there 
wiU be found those who regard it as a scheme of state dictation, 
wholly at war with the rights of individuals, and oppressive in exact- 
ing contributions from such as are unable or unwilling, from various 
motives, to participate in its advantages. .... 

Under the law as it now stands, a majority of the legal voters of 
districts, at any meeting properly convened, have it in their power, 
by a majority of voters, to levy a tax for the support of schools, thus 
enabling them, if they see proper, to avail themselves of aU the 
advantages of free schools. I am not aware that in a single instance 
this has been done, nor can any motive be assigned for the action of 
the people in this respect, unless it grow out of a preference for the 
system which now prevails 



372 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The entire number of common schools in operation in the state 
in the course of the past year is estimated at seven thousand and 
thirty-one. Of the schools reported, two thousand three hundred and 
ninety-seven were taught by male teachers, and the balance by 
females. The number of female teachers employed seem to be 
steadily increasing, and there can be but little doubt that in districts 
where pupils are mostly new beginners they are better adapted to 
guide the youthful mind than instructors of the rougher and sterner 
sex 

The census of 1850 shows the number of white children in the 
state to be 496,595. In the 72 counties from which reports are 
furnished, the number for the past year is stated, on the authority of 
township treasurers, to be 361,954. Of this number 139,255 are 
represented as having been in attendance at the common schools. 

(10) Extracts from the Biennial Report of the State Superintendent 

of Public Instruction to the Nineteenth General 

Assembly, 18 jj 

I propose, in the next place, to show that it is both the duty and 
the interest of the state to provide for the education of her children. 

In the preamble to our state constitution we acknowledge our- 
selves to be "grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious 
Uberty which we have been permitted to enjoy, and looking to Him 
for a blessing on our endeavors to secure and transmit the same 
unimpaired to succeeding generations, and, in order to form a more 
perfect government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity," &c. 

Were the inquiry now to be urged, how are these blessings best 
secured ? I am persuaded that the unanimous answer would be, by 
diffusing among the people knowledge and virtue. To secure the 
great ends of the constitution, it is important that the children in our 
state be trained so as to fully comprehend the principles of our con- 
stitution and the true basis of civil and religious liberty 

And to make it sure, it must not be left to chance, nor to private 
enterprise: it must be absolutely secured, by timely and judicious 
legislation. But parsimonious men will talk of economy, and of 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 373 

the necessity of retrenchment. It is cheaper to sustain schools than 
poor houses, and courts, and prisons; and as certainly as education 
is neglected, ignorance and vice, and pauperism and prisons, must 
draw heavily upon our treasury. The only prevention of these evils 
is in intellectual and moral expansion. We hesitate not, for the 
common defence, to invest money for the building of forts, for the 
manufacture of arms, the training of soldiers, for mihtary academies, 
and the general discipline and munitions of war. How much more 
important is it to educate the citizen, and to instruct the children of 
the citizen in the arts of peace and the principles of justice, that they 

may preserve the one and administer the other To make 

education general, you must make tuition free, still, however, sus- 
taining the schools, in some measure, out of the property of the 
country, by taxation 

I cannot too strongly urge the importance of making education 
free, alike to the rich and the poor. The system which provides for 
the education only of the poor is necessarily unsuccessful. It has 
ever been, and ever will be, regarded as a part of the pauper system; 
and in a country like ours few will consent to appear on the pauper 
list. 

The only way to bring in the children of the poor is to bring 
them in on the same footing, and on terms of equality with those of 
the rich. Make the school-room just as free and as much common 
property as our public highways, or the air we breathe. Let the 
poorest child feel that he has just as much right to be there as has the 
child of the millionaire, and that the only distinction known is that 
of merit, and then you will reach the poor, while no injury will be 
done to the rich. This is, in fact, the only plan which is properly in 
keeping with our republican institutions. It is predicated on the 
maxim, that "all men are born free and equal"; which equality is 
preserved until destroyed by the varying degrees of personal merit. 
It commends itself to our common sense of justice, and must, ulti- 
mately, command the respect of all classes of the people 

Upon the whole, I am fuUy persuaded that the free schools, as 
a general thing, are better than even the most select private ones. 
There are more people interested in them, and there is a public spirit 
at work in their support. Even smaU children seem to realize that 



374 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

through the schools they are brought into connection with the com- 
monwealth; they appreciate their high position, and they are proud 
to honor the institution which has elevated them. The system has 
met with general approval in every state where it has been tried. 
.... At this time, every free state, except one, and I regret to say 
that one is Illinois, has adopted it. Several states have even incor- 
porated in their constitutions provision for the support of schools. 
The slave states are waking up on the subject, and are adopting 
efficient systems of common school education. The general govern- 
ment has fully recognized the principle, by liberal donations of lands 
in all the townships of the new states, for free education. In short, 
the free school system may now be said to have the national sanction, 
and is looked to with admiration from the Old World, many states 
of which have even adopted it. Surely, surely, our state wiU no 
longer neglect it! 

The plan which I propose is, first of all, to simplify our school 
law, so that it may be understood by all. The prominent feature of 
the system which I have thought proper to recommend, recognizing 
the first principle, that education should be supported by a tax on 
property, gives to every child of the state a right to be educated, and 
to all an equal right. This principle of equality of right is made 
prominent. Its development necessarily requires that the proceeds 
of the school fund be so distributed as to afford equal facilities to all. 
If the distribution should be based entirely on population, it would 
give to the less populous counties and districts a comparatively 
small amount of money, while at the same time there is but little 
difference between the expense of a large and a small school of the 
same grade. In the country, or less populous districts, the property 
would have to bear much heavier taxation for the support of the 
schools, whUe in large cities and thickly settled districts, the assess- 
ment would be far less; or, if the taxation were uniform, the schools 
then would be more than supported. Either the first principle would 
have to be abandoned, or the property in some districts would have 
to contribute from fifty to one hundred per cent more than in others. 
If the principle be correct, that the property of the state should edu- 
cate the children of the state, on account of the security and addi- 
tional value which education gives to property, and the permanency 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 375 

and security which it insures to our civil, social, and religious insti- 
tutions, there is no reason why the burthen should not be equal 



TOTALS FOR COUNTIES FOR 1854 
(79 counties reported; 21 counties not reported) 

Amount of school sales $42,972 . 75 

Quantity of unsold school land (acres) 48,313 

No. schools taught 4,211 

No. schools taught by males 2,491 

No. schools taught by females i,5SS 

No. schools employing males and females at same time 115 

No. schools employing males and females at different periods 1,644 

Highest number of children taught 135,521 

Average number who have attended school 80,681 

No. white children under 21 years of age 401,460 

No. white children between the ages of 5 and 21 200,178 

Average no. months in year in which school has been taught 6 
No. schools in which the average number of children taught is 

under thirty 2,175 

Average number of scholars in each school 30 

Average monthly compensation of male teachers $25.00 

Average monthly compensation of female teachers $12.00 

(11) Extracts from the Biennial Report of the State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, 1867-68 

The larger portion of the aggregate number of colored people in 
the State are dispersed through the different counties and school dis- 
tricts, in small groups of one, two, or three families, not enough to 
maintain separate schools for themselves, even with the help of the 
pittance paid for school taxes by such of them as are property holders. 
This whole dispersed class of our colored population are without the 
means of a common school education for their children; the law does 
not contemplate their co-attendance with white children, and they 
are without recourse of any kind. I think it safe to say that at least 
one-half of the six thousand colored children, between the ages of 
six and twenty-one, are in this helpless condition in respect to 
schools 



376 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The question of compulsory attendance has been widely dis- 
cussed in all parts of the country during the past two years. While 
there may be doubts as to whether that would be the best remedy 
for us, all things considered, those doubts do not, in my estimation, 
attach to the question of legal competency, but only to that of expe- 
diency. Every State school system must of necessity rest down at 
some points upon the idea of compulsion — of the supreme authority 
of a commonwealth to do what is deemed needful for the well-being 
of the body politic. The primary maxim upon which every free 
school law is grounded and defended, and which has become a part 
of the settled convictions of the American people — that a State has 
a just moral claim upon so much of the property of the people as may 
be required to educate its children and fit them for usefulness 
as good citizens — involves the idea of compulsion in the last resort. 
The State two mUl tax, which is the legitimate fruitage of that maxim, 
is collected from aU alike, whether willing or unwilling. Those who 
refuse to pay the tax are compelled to pay it; there is compulsory 
school-tax paying all over the State. And the power that justly 
demands and enforces, in virtue of its benevolent care and sovereignty, 
the payment of a tax for the noble purpose of educating and uplifting 
the people, may surely provide that the end sought shall not fail of 
attainment through the indifference or perverseness of others. The 
hand that forcibly takes the tax-money from the pocket of an unwill- 
ing non-resident, to support a school in a distant district in which he 
has no personal interest, is at least as rough and arbitrary as would 
be the hand that forcibly leads the children to the doors of the school- 
room. If the former act is right, though the very essence of compul- 
sion, how can the latter be wrong? Indeed, all general laws, both 
state and national, involve and imply the right of compulsion, in the 
last resort, and could not be otherwise executed. So far, therefore, 
as the question of the constitutional right and competency of a State 
to pass a school law that shall be compulsory in regard to attendance, 
is concerned, it seems to me there can be no doubt. If the funda- 
mental principle is conceded, the rest is a logical sequence — if a State 
may enact a general free school law, it may see that its supreme pur- 
pose is not defeated. And what is that purpose but the education of 
aU the children between the prescribed ages ? and how can this be 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 377 

if they do not attend? Regarded from this stand-point, may not 
the more rational question be : Has the State a right to stop short of 
compulsory attendance ? to leave it optional with the very persons to 
be benefited, whether, after all, the whole system shall be a success or 
a failure ? Hence, the question of compulsory attendance is not one 
of jurisdiction or competency on the part of the State, but of expe- 
diency only. It may be that a general compulsory law would not 
work well in a country and people like ours. It wiU certainly be 
a grander success if we can make the schools so good, so attractive 
and pleasant, that all wiU seek them and be drawn to them by a higher 
and nobler compulsion — the love of knowledge, of improvement, of 
culture, of country and of God. But in whatever aspect it is con- 
sidered, and whatsoever remedy may be the best, absenteeism is an 
evU of alarming magnitude, and must continue to receive the earnest 
attention of the friends of public education, until attendance upon 
the public schools shall be universal, and the system shall secure 
the maximum amount of good of which it is capable. 

(12) Extracts from the Biennial Report of the State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, iSdg-yo 

Absenteeism in 186 g. — Attention has been called to this evU in 
former reports. The continuance and magnitude of it, demand, 
however, a continued consideration. It is confessedly the great 
drawback upon our free school system; the problem of its extinction 
remains, in some important respects, the most perplexing, as well as 
the most weighty we have to deal with. 

Extent of the evil. — . . . . One out of every five or six not enrolled 
at aU, not in school so much as one day; but hundreds, yes, thousands, 
who were enrolled, but who were not present more than ten days, 
twenty days, a month — and so upward — 'but falling short, in all 
degrees, of the maximum, the six and a half months the schools were 
open. Absence, truancy, and tardiness, are to be reckoned all three 
together to get at the real amount of failure. The complete statistics 
show that while about nineteen out of every hundred due there, have 
not appeared at school at all, of those who did appear, not more than 
about sixty-five out of the hundred have been in regular daily attend- 
ance during the average time the schools were open. Of children 



378 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

due at school, therefore — that is to say, of all in the State between the 
ages of six and twenty-one — not more than forty to forty-five per 
cent, have been in regular daily attendance during the school time 
provided for them by the State 

Its cause. — But, having school privileges, many of those who 
need them most, hold school opportunities at light value, and make 
but slightest use of them. Then, many parents lack energy and 
enterprise sufficient even to keep their children at school. Some, 
who are abundantly able to do so, fail to provide their children with 
clothing suitable to appear at school in. Others have lost control of 
their children; not a few boys and girls within our State are not 
in school simply because they wonH go, and the parents have lost 
authority to make them go. Very large numbers are kept at home 
for their services at labor; in shops and factories, upon the farm and 
in the house 

The cure. — It is doubtful whether any thorough preventive of 
this evil will be found short of State compulsion. Upon the com- 
petency of the State to enact laws which would make a certain amount 
of attendance at school compulsory, and upon the expediency of so 
doing, remark was made in my last report. The position then 
assumed, and which is stfil believed to be irrefutable, was, that it is 
competent for a State to provide, by appropriate enactments, that 
all persons of suitable age, and of proper mental and physical ability, 
shall attend the pubHc schools for a certain specified period, unless 
otherwise educated. The States of Missouri, Nevada, Arkansas, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and I think two or three 
others, have already prepared the way for the ultimate arrest by 
legislative interposition, of the evils of voluntary absenteeism, and 
truancy, by incorporating the necessary provisions into their respect- 
ive State Constitutions. In those of Arkansas and South Carolina, 
the enactment of such laws is peremptorily required, while in the 
organic laws of the other States named, the provisions on the subject 
are only permissive 

The theory is that a State may of right do whatever is essential, 
or which it believes to be essential to its own preservation, welfare 
and perpetuity; that the safety and continuance of a republican 
government requires the education of the whole body of the people; 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 379 

and hence that a State may rightfully do whatever may be found 
really necessary to secure that end. This is the rock upon which 
the whole American doctrine of free public education by State law, 
rests down, firmly and immovably. And upon the self-same founda- 
tion, in virtue of the same high moral and political necessity, and of 
strictest logical sequence, abides the right of providing for compul- 
sory attendance, in the last resort To provide, at great 

expense, by the supreme authority of the State, for the free edu- 
cation of all the youth of the State, and at the same time leave aU at 
liberty to reject what is thus provided, is to allow a self-destructive 
principle to lurk in the very citadel of the whole system. 

But until we reach the point where such a law can be passed and 
sustained, and, indeed, as a means either of reaching it, or of doing 
what would be better — of making such a law unnecessary — the only 
available remedy against this evil will be the formation of a right 
public opinion touching this whole matter of schools, and of regular, 
punctual school-attendance 

Let every voice and every agency, that promises good, be enlisted, 
and employed in speaking and in acting upon this great subject, till 
it is everywhere considered the basest of crimes, to be a parent, and 
then deliberately or thoughtlessly to deprive the child of the blessed 
boon of obtaining all the free knowledge he can acquire; or, to be a 
citizen, and connive at or allow a child to live in this intelligent age, 
without being, if no other way offers, compelled to learn so much of 
truth as shall raise him above the danger and the suspicion of bar- 
barism 

The free school system in Illinois First of all should be 

mentioned the great fact that the free school system of Illinois has 
at last been firmly entrenched in the organic law of the State. Prior 
to the adoption of the new constitution, the whole system, with its 
myriad ramifications, its vast accumulations of funds and property, 
and its untold blessings to the people of the present and the future, 
had no other foundation than a simple act of the Legislature 

The formal recognition in the fundamental law of the claims of 
free popular education was due to the dignity of the State itself. 
Illinois could not longer have afforded to remain the only free Ameri- 
can State which deemed the subject of public education unworthy 



380 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

a place in her Constitution If any thing is settled by the 

conduct of nations, the teachings of experience, the logic of events, 
and the sif tings and deductions of human thought, in this latter half 
of the nineteenth century, this is settled. 

(13) The Educational Rights of Children 
{Extract from the Biennial Report of the State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, iSji-yz) 

.... I now approach the consideration of another question of 
great practical moment, one that is regarded by many as "the most 
important school question of modern times," namely: How shall the 
evil of voluntary absenteeism be arrested, and aU the youth of the 
State, not otherwise educated, be brought into the public schools ? 
In other words, how shall the children of the State be protected 
against the wrongs and evils of illiteracy, and secured in their edu- 
cational rights ? . . . . 

The subject thus introduced is now prominently before the 

American people It is usually considered under the form of 

"compulsory school attendance" — sometimes under the better form 
of "obligatory education," and other equivalent or similar desig- 
nations. The essential idea is the same, whatever the phraseology 
in which the proposition is couched; that idea is expressed in the 
question: What shall be done to get the school children into the 
schools, and to arrest the alarming increase of truancy and voluntary 
absenteeism ? But while the verbal formula may be of little conse- 
quence, yet, aside from the ill-repute into which the other forms of 
statement have fallen, and the unthinking hostility which they seem 
to have needlessly invited, they do not, it seems to me, express the 
cardinal idea involved, in the fittest and most appropriate manner. 
They seem, in some degree, to misplace the emphasis, laying it rather 
upon the children than upon parents and guardians, where I think 
it more properly belongs. Believing, as I do, that the greater fault 
lies against parents and guardians, for neglecting or refusing to send 
their children and wards to school, and not against the latter, for 
refusing to attend; and hence that the real gravamen consists in 
depriving children and youth of their educational rights, at a period 
when they can neither appreciate the loss incurred, nor obtain redress 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 381 

for the wrong inflicted — holding this to be the juster view of the 
subject, when law-making power is invoked in behalf of these vic- 
tims of neglect and wrong, I would have the statute entitled, not an 
act to compel the attendance of children at school, but an act to 
secure to children ^Aeir rig^/ to a good common school education 

Grounds of the rights to education. — Are there, then, such rights, 
or is the claim a mere sentiment, a bare assumption ? — a pertinent 
inquiry, for the affirmation that there are, is the major premise of the 
argument, and essential to its strength; rights and privileges that 
do not exist, cannot be infringed, abridged or denied. The right to 
the rudiments of knowledge, is a common, natural right of humanity; 
and, in this State, it is also a constitutional and legal right 

But I have said that, in this State, at least these rights are also 
guaranteed by the constitution, and established by law. The first 
section of the eighth article of the organic law of Illinois declares 
that: "The General Assembly shall provide a thorough and efficient 
system of free schools, whereby aU the children of this State may 
receive a good common school education"; and this injunction of the 
constitution is obeyed in the forty-eighth section of the school law, 
which declares that boards of directors, "shall establish and keep in 
operation, for at least five months in each year, and longer if practi- 
cable, a sufficient number of free schools for the proper accommoda- 
tion of all children in the district over the age of six and under twenty- 
one years, and shall secure to all such children the right and opportu- 
nity to an equal education in such free schools." 

In conformity with these provisions, there is now in this State 
a free school system, well established, thoroughly organized, and 
in successful operation. 

But the grave question recurs: If those who have the custody and 
guardianship of children, refuse or neglect to avail themselves of these 
munificent provisions — 'if they do not, or will not send them to the 
public schools, or otherwise cause them to be educated, what shall be 
done ? I answer, let such parents and guardians be required by law 
to discharge that duty 

Parents and guardians should be enjoined, by appropriate legis- 
lation, to secure for their children and wards a good common school 
education — 



382 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

I. Because it is Competent for the General Assembly to pass such 
laws. 

II. Because it is Necessary and Expedient. 

If these two propositions can be established, the doctrine of legis- 
lative interposition to arrest the evils of non-attendance and truancy, 
and to secure to all the youth of the State the rights and benefits of 
education, will also be established 

The idea of free schools, established and supported by the State, 
was born of the political sagacity, far-reaching wisdom and sanctified 
common sense of the New England Fathers, who builded their moral, 
social and political institutions upon foundations as enduring as the 
rocks of their own sea-girt colonies 

Multitudes who ardently, and even vehemently, defend and 
support free schools, and favor the imposition of every tax necessary 
to their maintenance in the most liberal and efficient manner, are 
unaccountably disturbed at the idea of any legal provisions to secure 
attendance. The attitude and opinions of these good men may be 
thus epitomized : 

"Proclaim the gospel of universal education by free public 
schools," they say: "it is the only gospel of political safety. Ballots 
for all, without knowledge for all, is the precipitous road to anarchy 
or despotism. Establish your school systems, with all their intricate 
and nicely adjusted machinery, and their tens of thousands of school 

ofi&cers and fiduciary agents Tax, with a free hand, that 

nothing be wanting, for the people must be educated. If any refuse 
to pay, bring down upon them the strong arm, and make them pay; 
enforce the law, seize and sell their goods and property, and extort 
the tax, for the youth of this nation must be educated. Do all these 
things without hesitation or fear; replenish and fill your school 
treasuries, and keep them full, in city, town and country. Spare no 
pains, omit no duty, exercise every power conferred by law, for the 
very life of the Republic depends upon the education of all the people. 
But, let there be no compulsion in the matter of attendance! Any 
legislation on that subject would be un-American, anti-republican, 
arbitrary, despotic, odious. Every parent must be left at perfect 
liberty to avail himself of these princely provisions, or not, and to 
educate his child, or leave it in ignorance, as he may elect; and where 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 383 

there is no parental control, the right of the child to go to school or 
stay away, must on no account be infringed or abridged. These are 
matters with which the government, even though that government 
be but the embodiment and utterance of the popular wUl, has no 
business to meddle. Reserved and sacred precincts are these, into 
which no impertinent school law may presume to intrude. The very 
idea of pressure in this direction is offensive, and repugnant to the 
spirit of our institutions." 

"Moreover," say they, "such legislation will do no good; it will 
not reach the evil — the spirits of absenteeism and truancy cannot be 
so exorcised. It will merely offend, and alienate, without materially 
adding to the muster-rolls of the schools. And besides, it is vain to 
pass laws in advance of public sentiment; they wlU be an irritation 
and offence, while practically remaining a dead letter. And again, 
if parents may be compelled to educate their children as the State 
prescribes, in things secular and temporal, they may also in things 
religious and spiritual, and thus the inviolable realm of conscience 
may be invaded. Only make the schools themselves what they 
should be, and the maximum attendance will be attained without 
legislation. In every view, therefore, the attempt to reach the ques- 
tion of attendance in this way, is impolitic and unnecessary, and 
would prove inoperative and mischievous." .... 

Popular misapprehensions of the subject. — It is not proposed to 

drag children to school, vi et armis, as some seem to imagine 

The proposed legal incentives to attendance, unfortunately called 
compulsion, belong to the simplest and most familiar category of legis- 
lative provisions To illustrate, I quote the material sections 

of a bill, on this subject, introduced into our legislature last winter: 

"Section i. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly. That every person having under 
his control a chUd between the ages of eight and fourteen years, shall 
annually, during the continuance of his control, send such child to 
some public school in the school district in which he resides, at least 
twelve weeks, if the public school of such district so long continues, 
six weeks of which time shall be consecutive; and for every neglect 
of such duty the party offending shall forfeit to the use of such school 
district a sum not exceeding twenty dollars. 



384 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

"2. The penalty provided for in section one shall not be imposed 
in cases where it appears, upon the inquiry of the directors of any 
school district, or upon trial of any prosecution, that the party so 
neglecting was not able, by reason of poverty, to send such child to 
school, or to furnish him or her with the necessary clothing and 
books, or that such child has been kept in any other school for said 
period of time, or has already acquired the branches of learning 
taught in the public schools, or that his or her bodily or mental con- 
dition has been such as to prevent his or her attendance at school, or 
application to study for the period required." 

.... It serves well the purpose of indicating the general char- 
acter of the legal pressure which it is proposed to bring to bear upon 
parents and guardians to induce them to educate their children; and 
of dispelling the ridiculous fancies entertained by the ignorant, and 
fostered by some who ought to know better, respecting the provisions 
and appliances of a compulsory school law. Laws in relation to 
school attendance, popularly called compulsory, are now in force in 
the States of Michigan, New Hampshire and Connecticut, and in 
none of them is the compulsion, the force, anything different from, 
or more alarming than, that prescribed in the bill from which I have 
quoted 

It is said that such laws cannot be enforced; that public senti- 
ment is against them 

But, it is said, when public opinion is thus prepared for com- 
pulsory laws, there will be no need of them; since, by the very condi- 
tions supposed, the pressure of public sentiment will then of itself 
be sufficient to suppress absenteeism. Then, what need of legislation 
on any subject, that has the general approval ? . . . . There can be 
no reasonable doubt that the effect of laws to secure attendance at 
school would be substantially the same as the effect of tax laws and 
of other general laws — securing obedience from a like proportion of 
those who would not otherwise act 

Finally, the expediency and present necessity of legislative inter- 
position to shield the children of the State from the dangers and the 
wrong of ignorance, may be urged with unanswerable force from the 
statistics of absenteeism, truancy and illiteracy in this country. It 
is an incontrovertible fact that the voluntary plan is but partially 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 385 

successful. The proof is as overwhelming, as it is alarming. The 
evidence is comprehensive and cumulative. It pours in from every 
State and territory, and from all the chief cities of the republic. The 
reports of State and city superintendents, and of the National Com- 
missioner of Education, are burdened with the sad details. The 
number of absentees and truants in our chief commercial metropolis 
was reported, eight years ago, as a mighty army, 100,000 strong, and 
subsequent reports show little comparative improvement. Uncounted 
thousands of vagrant, lawless children prowl the streets, and roam 
through the purlieus of all our great cities, becoming precocious in 
wickedness, and going down with frightful precipitation to the nether- 
most abysses of vice, pollution and shame. Taking all the States 
from which reports are at hand, and the number who are even enrolled, 
in any given year, averages less than half the total school-going 
population, while the average daily attendance is less than one-fifth 
of that population. 

But the fact that has most to do with the present inquiry is, that 
a comparison of the statistics of the last decade shows but slight 
improvement in the ratio of attendants to non-attendants, taking all 
the States, territories and cities into the account; while in many the 
change has even been for the worse — disproving the view that the 
evil is steadily abating, and that with better teachers, better 
methods and better schools, it will continue to decrease till the 
minimum is practically reached, without the intervention of law. 
For in no preceding ten years of our common school history has 
progress in the science and methods of teaching, and in what- 
soever makes school inviting and effective, been so marked and 
rapid 

It is supposed by some that legislative interposition to oblige 
parents to secure to their children the rudiments of a good common 
school education, is inhibited by the provisions of the State consti- 
tution, being, especially, contrary to the rights and immunities 
granted in the Bill of Rights; and this view is supposed to be favored, 
if not established, by the decision rendered in the case entitled, "The 
People of the State of Illinois, ex. rel. Michael O'Connell, vs. Robert 
Turner, Superintendent of the Reform School of the City of Chicago." 
LV lUs., 280. 



386 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The gist of the very clear and forcible opinion of the court in 
that case, is as follows: 

"The bill of rights declares that 'all men are by nature free and 
independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights — 
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' This 
language is not restrictive; it is broad and comprehensive, and 
declares a grand truth, that 'all men,' all people everywhere, have 
the inherent and inalienable right to liberty. Shall we say to the 
children of the State, you shall not enjoy this right — a right inde- 
pendent of all human laws and regulations? It is declared in the 
constitution; is higher than constitution and law, and should be held 
forever sacred. 

"Even criminals can not be convicted and imprisoned without 
the process of law — without a regular trial, according to the course of 
the common law. Why should minors be imprisoned for misfortune ? 
Destitution of proper parental care, ignorance, idleness and vice, are 
misfortunes, not crimes. In all criminal prosecutions against minors, 
for grave and heinous offenses, they have the right to demand the 
nature and cause of the accusation, and a speedy public trial by an 
impartial jury. All this must precede the final commitment to 
prison. Why should children, only guilty of misfortune, be deprived 
of liberty without 'due process of law' ? 

"It can not be said that in this case there is no imprisonment. 
This boy is deprived of a father's care; bereft of home influences; 
has no freedom of action; made subject to the will of others, and thus 
feels that he is a slave. Nothing could more contribute to paralyze 
the youthful energies, crush all noble aspirations, and unfit him for 
the duties of manhood. Other means of a milder character; other 
influences of a more kindly nature; other laws less in restraint of 
liberty, would better accomplish the reformation of the depraved, 
and infringe less upon inalienable rights." .... 

But at what point, or in what way, does that doctrine as stated 
in the opinion, or any of its legitimate consequences, touch or ailect 
the proposition that the legislative department may and should 
interpose to secure to every child the blessings of education ? We 
do not propose the imprisonment of children "between the ages of 
six and sixteen years," or of any other ages, for any period of time, 



FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 387 

great or small. We do not allege that ignorance is a crime on the 
part of the child, (except when caused by its own wUlful, incorrigible 
viciousness and truancy), but a misfortune, as held by the court, 
deserving pity and sympathy — not a prison. We put it the other 
way; holding that education is a natural and inalienable right of 
every child— "a right independent of aU human laws and regulations; 
higher than constitution and law; and that it should be held forever 
sacred"; and hence, that willfully, obstinately and needlessly to 
deprive a child of that right is a crime on the part of the parent, of 

which the legislative department may properly take notice 

Recapitulation. — I think it has been shown that the legislative 
department may properly intervene to prevent those who have the 
control of children, from compelling or permitting such children to 
grow up in ignorance; that such intervention is not an abuse of 
powers conferred, not an unwarrantable assumption of powers not 
granted; that it is no improper invasion of personal liberty, nor of 
the authority and rights of parents, since it merely enforces the per- 
formance of parental duty, which can not be regarded as an infrac- 
tion of rights; that it is not inconsistent with rational freedom of 
conscience; that it puts the right of the child to be educated, above 
the right of the parent to keep it in ignorance; that it protects the 
many, who do educate their children, against the counteracting 
influence of the few, who wUl not; that it shields the innocent from 
cruel wrong, since starving the mind is worse than abusing the body; 
that it is grounded upon the belief that to bring up children in 
ignorance, wUlfully and without cause, is a crime, and should be 
treated as such; that such conduct on the part of those having the 
control of children, being a fruitful source of criminality, should be 
under the ban of legal condemnation, and the restraint of legal 
punishment; that the allegations as to the incompatibility of such 
laws with the nature and spirit of our political system, are unfounded, 
as also are the apprehensions concerning the assumed harshness and 
severity of their enforcement ; . . . . that the exclusively voluntary 
policy has been, and is, but partially successful, while the accelerated 
influx of foreigners renders the adoption of new measures of education, 
without delay, a grave political necessity; that the proposed legis- 
lative intervention is but an affirmance of the irrefutable truth, that 



388 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

if it is right to tax all for the education of all, then it is equally right 
to see that aU are educated; that it is in the line of a general human 
right, and of a fundamental right of children, and is compulsory only 
as that right must be protected against any and all infringements; 
that it is required, to fuUy utilize the vast resources already devoted 
to public education, and to prevent enormous and increasing waste 
of money, property and effort. 



APPENDIX II 

EXTRACTS FROM PUBLICATIONS OF THE BOARD OF 

EDUCATION RELATING TO THE COMPULSORY 

EDUCATION PROBLEM IN CHICAGO 

Extracts from : (i) Report of Superintendent of Schools, Chicago, 1856: 
Uneducated Children of Chicago; (2) ihid., 1857: The Evil of Irregular 
Attendance; (3) ibid., 1864-65: Truancy — Its Extent and Causes; (4) 
Thirty-fourth Annual Report, The Board of Education, Chicago, 
1887-88: Idle Boys upon the Streets. 

(i) Uneducated Children of Chicago {Extract from the Third Annual 

Report of Superintendent of Public Schools of Chicago 

for the Year 18 j6, pp. 4-11) 

While we may congratulate ourselves upon the liberal provision 
made by our city for the education of her children, and I trust also 
upon the present healthy condition of the schools, we cannot conceal 
the fact that a large number of children are growing up in our midst, 
without ever availing themselves of the means provided for their 
instruction. Most of this class of children are constant and punctual 
in their attendance upon the various schools of poverty and crime; 
and though never found within the walls of a school house, it is to be 
feared their education will prove the most expensive that is furnished 
to any class of our children. 

It has seemed to me a matter of importance, at this period in the 
history of the schools, to ascertain as nearly as possible the number 
of children in our midst of suitable age to attend school, who are 
entirely destitute of school instruction. It appears from the recent 
census of the city, that the number of children in Chicago between 
the ages of five and fifteen years, is about 17,100. I take the period 
between five and fifteen years, because these are generally regarded 
as the limits of the school age, though many pupils remain in school 
till the age of eighteen or twenty. Our problem, then, is to account 

389 



390 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

for the school instruction of these 17,100 children who are of suitable 
age to attend school. 

The whole number of pupils in attendance upon the public schools 
of the city at any time during the year 1856, after deducting those 
over fifteen, was 8,306. This number taken from 17,100 leaves 
8,794 still to be accounted for. 

The census of the city affords no means of ascertaining the num- 
ber of pupils instructed in the private schools; but as it is impossible 
to arrive at any satisfactory solution of our question without this 
knowledge, I have taken measures to secure a thorough canvass of 
the city, for the purpose of obtaining it. The result shows that there 
are at the present time fifty-six private schools of various grades in 
the city, including the Industrial Schools and the Orphan xA.sylum, 
with an aggregate attendance of 3,850 between the ages of five and 
fifteen. To find the whole number attending the private schools 
during the year, we must add to the number now enrolled, as nearly 
as can be ascertained, about 550, making in all 4,400. Taking this 
number from 8,794, we have yet remaining 4,394 children between 
five and fifteen, that have not during the year been found a single 
day in any school of the city, either public or private. 

In settling the question, how many children are habitually 
absent from the schools who ought to be found in them, we must make 
some further reduction of this number. There are a few cases in 
which provision is made by parents for the instruction of their 
children at home. There is also a small number of children that are 
either physically or mentally incapacitated to attend school. Per- 
haps some allowance should be made for those who have obtained 
what may be regarded a respectable education, and left school before 
reaching the age of fifteen. It would probably be a high estimate to 
put the number embraced in all these classes at 1,000. No one 
would think of putting it higher than 1,394. But this number taken 
from 4,394, leaves at least 3,000 children in our city who are utterly 
destitute of school instruction or any equivalent for it. 

This is no theoretical speculation. The facts I have adduced 
have been collected and revised with the utmost care. I leave out of 
account the fact that hundreds of those whose names are enrolled 
as members of the schools, attend less than a single month in the 



COMPULSORY EDUCATION PROBLEM IN CHICAGO 391 

year, while hundreds of others are so irregular in their attendance 
that they can hardly be said to be benefited at all by the instruction 
they receive. Pupils embraced in these classes are ranked the same 
in my estimates as those who are punctual and regular in their attend- 
ance through the year. I would gladly present a different picture, 
but the facts will not possibly admit of it. The truth is demon- 
strable, that not less than 3,000 children in our city are destitute of 
all proper instruction during the period, which is to decide their 
future character and influence as citizens of a free Republic. This 
number is greater than the average attendance of the public schools 
during any month in the year! 

The Superintendent of Public Schools in the city of Boston,' in 
a recent report, arrived at the very gratifying conclusion, "that there 
are not more, on an average, than 500 absentees from school, who 
deserve to be blamed for non-attendance." If Chicago compares 
unfavorably in this respect with some of the older cities, the difference 
is not to be ascribed to any lack of interest in the cause of public 
instruction, or reluctance to provide facilities for the improvement 
of the schools. The causes of this difference are mostly those, which 
are incident to the changing character and rapid increase of our 
population. It is true that the crowded condition of the public 
schools has had the effect to prevent a considerable number from 
entering them; but so rapid is the growth of the city, that rooms, 
which afford liberal accommodations for a school, when a new 
house is put under contract, become excessively crowded during 
the few months required for its erection. The distance of many 
families from any public school, is another serious obstacle to the 
attendance of children, especially those livmg in remote parts of 
the city. 

But, while we may find in our peculiar circumstances an expla- 
nation of the causes which have led to this deplorable condition of 
so large a number of children, it would be suicidal for us to close our 

' The President of the Board of Education in New York, in his recent 
inaugural address, estimates the number of children in that city who are 
habitually absent from school at more than 20,000. In Cincinnati there 
are about 41,000 children of suitable age to attend school, of whom it is 
estimated that more than 8,000 are never found in the schools. 



392 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

eyes to the magnitude of the evil and the fearful relation it bears to 
the future character and destiny of our city. 

If it be asked, what can be done to reduce the number of absentees 
from the schools, the first and most natural step to be taken, is to 
furnish the community with information in respect to the nature and 
extent of the evil that exists, and this is the main object which I have 
had in view, in presenting the foregoing facts. If the citizens of 
Chicago could be brought fully to realize that these 3,000 children, 
growing up in ignorance, and many of them in want and crime, are 
a dangerous element in our social compact, a thousand almost imper- 
ceptible influences would soon be brought to bear upon them, and 
more than a thousand children, now found in the streets or in haunts 
of vice, would soon be found in the public schools. The ingenuity 
of philanthropists would be tasked to devise means, by which this 
poisonous stream might be purified, before its deadly waters are 
mingled in the full, strong current of adult life. 

By increasing the number of schools so as to furnish an adequate 
number of teachers, and a proper amount of room, and thus render 
the schools more efficient and attractive, we shall do much to increase 
the number in attendance. But when all general measures have 
been tried, as far as they can be brought to bear upon the case, it is 
to be feared that a large class of children will still be left to grow up 
in ignorance, unless some special means are adopted to bring them 
under the influence of school instruction. 

(2) The Evil of Irregular Attendance {Fourth Annual Report of the 
Superintendent of Public Schools of Chicago, 1857, PP- 4^~49) 

The evil of irregular attendance is one that has long engaged the 
attention of the Board of Education, and one that has hitherto 
baffled all the efforts that have been made for its removal. It is now 
universally regarded as the most dangerous evil that exists in con- 
nection with the free school system. 

Near the close of 1857, the Board adopted^the following rule, 
which took effect on the first of January, 1858: 

"Any scholar who shall be absent six half days in four consecu- 
tive weeks, without an excuse from the parent or guardian, given 



COMPULSORY EDUCATION PROBLEM IN CHICAGO 393 

either in person or by written note, satisfying the teacher that the 
absences were caused by his own sickness or by sickness in the family, 
shall forfeit his seat in the school; and the teacher shall forthwith 
notify the parent and the Superintendent that the pupil is suspended. 
No pupil thus suspended shall be restored to school, till he has given 
satisfactory assurance of punctuality in the future and obtained per- 
mission from the Superintendent to return." 

The propriety or impropriety of adopting such a rule, involves 
grave questions, which lie at the very foundation of our system of 
free schools. 

That education should be free and universal, is now the prevail- 
ing sentiment of this nation. The primary basis on which the doc- 
trine of free schools rests, is the safety of the State. Uneducated 
men and women are regarded as a dangerous element in a free 
Republic. There are, however, many who stiU look with distrust 
upon schools entirely free, and the number would be found to be 
much larger than it appears, if it were not for the odium of entertaining 
sentiments that are unpopular with the masses. Even among the 
ablest and most devoted friends of popular education, there are not 
wanting those who regard it as unwise to make our schools entirely 
free to children whose parents are able to contribute to their support. 
They believe that opportunities which cost nothing can never be 
fuEy appreciated, and that our schools can never rise to the highest 
order of excellence while those who enjoy their benefits do not put 
forth any direct effort to aid in sustaining them. The Hon. Henry 
Barnard, of Connecticut, one of the ablest and most devoted friends 
of education in the country, has long entertained this view of the 
subject. During the last year, an animated discussion on this ques- 
tion took place on New England ground, between Mr. Barnard and 
the Hon. George S. Boutwell, Secretary of the Massachusetts Board 
of Education. 

The friends of free schools have much to fear from the arguments 
that are based upon the irregular attendance of scholars, and the 
consequent waste of so large a portion of the funds that are pro- 
vided for the support of the schools. If this waste was as apparent 
as it is real, a remedy in some form would long since have been 
demanded. 



394 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Let us take, for illustration, our own city. The average number 
of absences from all the Grammar and Primary Schools during the 
year, was more than one-fifth of the average number belonging to the 
schools. But if one-fifth of the children are always absent, there is an 
absolute loss of one-fifth of the expense of sustaining the schools, for 
it is obviously much easier to instruct any number of pupils who are 
punctual, than the same number that are habitually irregular in their 
attendance. The derangement of classes and the time required 
to bring up lost lessons, are always more than an equivalent for the 
time saved by any reduction of numbers that may be occasioned 
by absences. Here, then, is a positive loss to the city of more 
than $12,000 during the year 1857. In two years, this loss 
amounts to a sum sufficient to build one of our first class school 
houses. 

But it is not the waste of money alone, that is sapping the 
foundations of our free school system. One of the principal objects 
in making the schools free and common to all classes, is to remove the 
danger of having an uneducated and vicious class of persons con- 
stantly growing up, to prey upon society. This object is of course 
in a great degree lost, if those whom the schools are desired to raise 
from vagrancy and ignorance, are to regard them with indifference 
and neglect. 

In this city, as in others, there is a class of parents who seem to 
regard the public schools as convenient places, where they may send 
their children on days when they happen to have nothing else for 
them to do. The consequence is, that many children have been in 
the habit of attending school only one or two days in the week — in 
some instances not more than two or three days in a month; often 
enough to retard the progress of the class with which they were con- 
nected, but not often enough to derive any substantial benefit 
themselves. 

But there is another evil connected with the irregular attendance 
of scholars, that is seriously affecting the interests of free schools. 
The absence of a portion of a class, retards the progress of all the rest. 
It is safe to say that in many of the classes in our schools, the advance- 
ment has not been more than two-thirds or three-fourths as great 
as it would have been if the pupils had been punctual in their attend- 



COMPXJLSORY EDUCATION PROBLEM IN CHICAGO 395 

ance. If all the members of a class were equally irregular, each 
pupil would suffer his own share of this loss. But the records of the 
schools show that more than one-half of the absences belong to less 
than one-fifth of the scholars. Here, then, is a most glaring injustice. 
Parents sometimes claim that they have a right to keep their children 
from school when they please, without stopping to consider that 
other parents, whose children are uniformly punctual, have also a 
right to expect that they will not be kept back in their classes by those 
who are habitually irregular. 

Heretofore this right of the few to hinder the progress of the 
many, has been yielded; while the right of the many to advance 
without these impediments, has been disregarded. A large portion 
of the children that are taken from the public schools and placed 
under private instruction, are transferred from this cause; while 
many of the parents whose children still remain, have an abiding 
feeling that their rights are disregarded for the gratification of those 
who are indifferent to the education of their own children. 

Every one at all conversant with our schools, is aware that most 
of the absences that occur, are occasioned by the carelessness and 
neglect of parents, and not by any real necessity. 

If this evil is to continue unchecked, our schools can never reach 
a high standard of excellence, and many parents wUl contrive to send 
their children to private schools, rather than submit to the annoyance 
of having them classed with those who have no ambition to improve, 
and who are not willing to put forth the necessary effort to establish 
habits of punctuality. 

On the other hand, if the rights of all shall be equally regarded, 
and an ordinary degree of regularity in attendance upon the schools 
shall be made a condition of membership, then may we expect that 
our schools wfil continue to advance, and become more and more 
worthy of the confidence of all classes in the community. 

I have taken the liberty to present these views, because it is vain 
for us to close our eyes against evils that threaten the stability of 
our noble system of public instruction. I believe that this system is 
destined to triumph, and that, in the future history of the country, 
the common schools will be entirely free. But of nothing do I feel 
more fully assured than this, that if the free school system is finally 



396 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

to prevail, it must be by reducing it to a rigidly economical basis, and 
by treating the rights of all with equal consideration. 

It was with this view of the case, that the Board of Education 
adopted the rule requiring those who enter the public schools of this 
city, to attend with some degree of regularity. The rule has already 
accomplished twice as much in improving the standard of punctuality 
in our schools, as all previous agencies combined. 

So far as I can learn, the rule has given general satisfaction. 
More than a hundred different parents have already applied in person 
to have their children restored to the seats that had been forfeited 
by irregular attendance; but I can recollect only a single instance 
in which a parent has made any special complaint of the rule itself, 
whUe in a large majority of cases, those whom I have seen have 
expressed themselves gratified with its adoption. 

It is not the design of the rule to exclude from the schools any 
children whose parents put forth sufficient effort to secure an ordi- 
nary degree of punctuality; and even when a seat has been forfeited, 
the pupU is not necessarily deprived of the privileges of the school, 
except for a single day. 

One of the most important advantages of the rule, is the oppor- 
tunity it affords the Superintendent to confer with parents in regard 
to the interests of their children and of the schools. 

Similar rules have already been adopted in St. Louis, Dubuque, 
Cincinnati, Hartford, New Haven, Worcester, and other cities; 
embracing the principle that habitual irregularity of attendance is 
a sufficient cause for depriving a pupil of his seat in school 

(3) Truancy — Its Extent and Causes {Extract from Eleventh Annual 
Report of the Board of Education of Chicago, 
1864-65, pp. 19-38) 

Let our attention be turned, a moment, to the facts concerning 
those who are enrolled upon our School Records. We shall find 
the average number belonging, during any one month, about 90 per 
cent, of the whole number enrolled, and the average daUy attendance 
only 90 per cent, of the average number belonging to the schools. 
From this we learn, first, that about 10 per cent, of the membership 
of our schools is changed each month; and, second, that 10 per cent. 



COMPULSORY EDUCATION PROBLEM IN CHICAGO 397 

of the number belonging to the schools are absent every day. Could 
our schools all be visited, upon a day of average weather, only 13,500 
of the 15,000 acutally belonging there, would be seen. Where are 
the remaining 1,500? Some are sick, and others are feigning sick- 
ness; some are watching by the sickbed of some other member of the 
family; some are supplying the places of others, whom necessity 
has sent from home; some are entertaining friends; some are pre- 
paring to entertain expected visitors, or to be entertained by inviting 
hosts; some are idly dozing away time under the plea of resting from 
some unusual physical exertion, or are recovering from the fatigue 
attendant upon some unnecessary conviviality; some are moping 
about in their effort to execute an errand, trumped up as an excuse 
for absence; many are endeavoring to render earnestly proffered 
assistance to indulgent parents, who accept offers of help when it is 
not needed, rather than cross the wishes of their children; many are 
roaming the streets in search of enjoyment not found in books; while 
some are skulking about, shunning both parent and teacher, while 
they play truant. To all these forms of excuse, the children are 
agreed. But the whole truth is not yet told. Many who would 
gladly be in their places, are absent because of their parents' indiffer- 
ence or carelessness. Avarice, too, has had its influence in depriving 
the school room of happy faces, willing minds, and joyous hearts. 
The little earnings of the child on the one hand, and on the other 
hand the money saved, that would otherwise have gone to the pur- 
chase of books and necessary clothing to make the child comfortable 
at school, have had a more powerful influence through the father's 
pocket, than the earnest look and beseeching tone of the little child 
thirsting for knowledge, combined with the father's conviction of 
duty in regard to the mental and moral cultivation of his offspring. 
Many a child has been sacrificed, mentally and morally, as well as 
physically, to the pecuniary interest of the parent. Every effort 
should be made to secure the city against the inroads which avarice 
and carelessness are thus making upon her prosperity. 

Were the evil of irregular attendance confined to any individuals, 
constituting 10 per cent, of the number belonging in school, it could 
be much more easily borne, and would prove less disastrous; but 
to make up the ten absentees each day, more than fifty out of each 



398 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

hundred are drawn upon during the month, and the fifty will be 
found more or less irregular, so that a majority of each school is, in 
reality, irregular in its attendance. To-day, ten are absent; 
to-morrow, five will return, and their places will be supplied by five 
who are present to-day, and upon some other day the ten of to-day 
will be found in their seats, but the seats of ten others will be vacant. 
Thus the school changes from day to day, classes are kept back on 
account of the slow progress of the irregular, and if it be urged that 
the majority should control the progress of the class, it wUl be found 
upon inquiry that the majority is irregular, and so does control. 

Earnest and faithful as the teacher may be, he will yet fail to 
reach many cases of truancy. The parents' absence from home at 
the most important part of the day, the unwillingness of other par- 
ents to take any interest in the punctual attendance of their child; 
and the utter refusal of others, who encourage truancy in their 
children, to aid the teacher in his work, enforce the necessity of 
some other agency than those established by the Board of Educa- 
tion, and faithfully executed by willing teachers. .... 

The necessity of some such system becomes every day more 
apparent in this city. The city owes it to herself as an act of self- 
preservation. I shall be met with the objection that the city has 
no right to compel the attendance of any children upon her public 
schools. For the sake of argument, admit this to be true, and for a 
moment let us examine whether there is anything compulsory in the 
plan proposed. It is not expected that all children will attend the 
public schools; they are left at liberty to attend or not as they may 
see fit. The Truant Officer is expected to use all his persuasive power 
to induce attendance upon some school of those who are growing up 
without any instruction or without occupation. Further than this 
I do not ask that his power shall for the present extend. But with 
truants from schools to which they properly belong, the case is 
different. They have been placed at school with a full understand- 
ing that they must submit to all reasonable rules and regulations. 
Is any regulation more reasonable than the one which demands regular 
attendance upon school ? Is any rule more reasonable than the one 
which requires correct deportment on the part of all pupils ? Would 



COMPULSORY EDUCATION PROBLEM IN CHICAGO 399 

not a parent have just reason to complain of any school which 
neglected these very important matters ? Can a proper care for the 
execution of these rules be considered at all compulsory in its nature ? 
Does not every candid parent consent to such a discipline of his 
child ? Would any proper means to secure good habits be considered 
compulsory ? Would not every parent rather compel the observance 
of rules so wise and salutary ? 

So far as the arrest and sentence of the offender is concerned, 
is it any more compulsory than the law which already exists, and 
under which the same offender is liable to arrest and sentence at least 
so soon as he shall have reached the point of crime toward which 
his habits of truancy are most surely leading him ? . . . . 

The necessity of some system to check truancy is enforced by the 
following considerations: 

Truants are rapidly learning the lessons of the street : lessons at 
war with the vital interests of the people, a school in which pupils 
make rapid progress in disobedience to parents, prevarication, false- 
hood, obscenity, profanity, lewdness, intemperance, petty thieving, 
larceny, burglary, robbery and murder, whose graduates become a 
prey upon the citizen, and a constant tax upon his pocket. Out of 
nearly 2,800 criminals confined in the State of New York during a 
period of ten years, it was found that less than 250 had ever been 
regular attendants upon any school. 

Again, the cost of the system will be less to the city than the 
care of the criminals added to the list by its absence. 

Still further, the city owes a debt to those poor parents, who are 
necessarily away from their homes during the entire day, and who 
cannot, for that reason, prevent or correct the truant habits of their 
children. Such children feel sure of immunity in their truancy, 
because their parents cannot be found by the teacher when he seeks 
a reason for their absence. Many such parents have, during the 
past year, besought my aid in correcting the truancy of their children. 
Gladly as I would aid them, my lack of time forbids any such work 
as a Truant Officer can alone well do. 

I leave this subject with the hope that such measures will be 
adopted by the laity as now lie within their power, and if further 
legislative action is needed, that early steps will be taken to secure it. 



400 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

(4) I die Boys upon the Streets (Extract fromtheThirty-fourth Annual 

Report of the Board of Education, Chicago, iSSy-SS, 

pp. 20-23) 

Although the State has taken steps toward compulsory edu- 
cation, yet much remains to be done before the law can be efi&ciently 
enforced. In some cities, notably New York, there are officers with 
police authority whose business it is to look out for and take to school 
truant children found roaming about the streets during school hours; 
something of the sort is needed here, in order to give greater efficiency 
to our school system. The law, it is true, provides that parents shall 
be prosecuted who fail to send their children to school three months 
during each year. But to devolve this additional duty upon mem- 
bers of the Board of Education, who are already overburdened with 
so many of the responsibilities of the school system of this great city, 
practically leaves the law a dead letter. The duty of enforcing this 
law ought in terms to be devolved upon the agencies provided by 
law for police purposes or greater powers given specifically to the 
Board. 

In my last report I referred to some of the defects in our school 
system, notably a want of authority, by which many of the youth 
of both sexes were permitted to roam idly about the streets. A 
proper authority to control these children, at least to the extent 
of compelling their attendance at either the day or the night schools, 
would undoubtedly be the means of their reclamation to a life of use- 
fulness. It is believed that the Legislature would, if properly 
memorialized on the subject, so amend the existing law as to author- 
ize the detention of children found upon the street during school 
hours, and provide for conducting them to school, with punishment 
for a second offense. This would do much toward breaking up those 
object lessons in vice, so often found where boys are collected after 
nightfall. 

If authority existed to arrest truant children, and see that they 
are taken to some city school, the parents would be forced to exercise 
greater vigilance as to the whereabouts of their children. One of the 
principal excuses given by some parents for not keeping their children 
in school is that they are compelled by poverty to send them out to 



COMPULSORY EDUCATION PROBLEM IN CHICAGO 401 

service, to aid in their own support. This may in some instances be 
a fair excuse, but in a country like ours the State ought not to permit 
the early life of a citizen to be thus dwarfed. By the munificence of 
former citizens, funds have been provided for the purchase of books 
by the Board, to be distributed, under the direction of the Principal 
of the school, to pupils whose means are insufficient to purchase the 
necessary books for school use. And it must be that we have in our 
midst citizens who would of their substance provide the necessary 
clothing to enable all children to attend school. Is it not the mani- 
fest duty of the State to more effectually prevent the employment of 
children of tender years in factories, and other places, when the best 
interests of the community require that their education should be 
proceeded with ? The State looks upon the child, boy or girl, only 
as a future citizen, in a free State, to be bound by its laws, to partici- 
pate directly in the administration of its government, and by and 
through whom its free institutions are to be transmitted unimpaired 
to future generations. If, therefore, the parent is derelict in his 
duty and sends his child to work, instead of to school, why should not 
the State interfere for its own and the child's well-being ? A recent 
writer on Popular Government, Sir Henry Maine, calls attention to 
the fact that in Democracies there is a growing tendency, in the indi- 
vidual citizen, to grow indifferent to the minute atom of sovereignty, 
vested in him, and to become neglectful in its exercise. This neglect, 
by a natural evolution, develops "the party leader" in our large 
centers of population. It is of the utmost importance, therefore, 
that the rising generation shall be early and thoroughly instructed 
in the duties of an enlightened citizenship, and an earnest and active 
public spirit developed and perpetuated. The changed conditions 
from those which prevailed in the past generation, and the great tide 
of promiscuous immigration, absolutely requires the fostering of a 
vigilant public spirit in the individual citizen. This is impossible 
unless through the early proper education of the children. 



APPENDIX III 

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE ENFORCEMENT OF CHILD 

LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION LAWS IN 

ILLINOIS 

(i) Extracts from the First Annual Report^ of the Factory 
Inspectors of Illinois, iSqj, pp. 8-ij 

Child labor. — Among the first work of the inspectors was a care- 
ful canvass of the sewing, metal-stamping, woodworking, book-binding, 
box, candy, tobacco, and cigar trades, and the discharge of a large 
number of children under fourteen years of age. 

The requirement that an age affidavit be filed in the workshop 
or factory, before a child is employed, has already made it a general 
practice on the part of employers to hand to every child applying 
for work an affidavit blank to be filled by the parent. Children who 
cannot get such blanks filled because not yet fourteen years old, 
apply £tt one shop after another until they either find some unscrupu- 
lous employer, or grow discouraged and give up the quest for work. 
Although some affidavits are undoubtedly false, hundreds of parents 
have withdrawn their children from work rather than forswear them- 
selves. 

Principally to meet the contingency of perjury, the inspectors 
have required health certificates of children markedly undersized, 
as well as of those who are diseased or deformed 

Where the child was found able to continue at work, it was 
granted a health certificate. In a large majority of cases, however, 
the examining physician endorsed upon the age affidavit the following 
formula: 

"It is my opinion that this child is physically unfit for work at 
his present occupation." 

The employer was then notified to discharge the child. 

' Mrs. Florence Kelley, chief factory inspector, see ante, pp. 72-84, 299. 

402 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 403 

It soon transpired that some occupations were more injurious 
than others; sweat-shops, tobacco, cutlery and stamping works being 
worse, for instance, than candy-packing rooms. On the other hand, 
the lightest occupations are jendered injurious by long hours of work. 
Therefore the prohibition of work for delicate children has been rarer 
in factories having good sanitary conditions, and known absolutely 
to obey the eight-hour section of the law, than in factories concern- 
ing which there was any doubt upon this point 

The medical profession and the law. — The value of this provision 
of the law [i. e., the medical certificate clause], however, depends upon 
the intelligent co-operation of the medical profession. For if the cer- 
tificates are granted merely pro forma, upon the representation of 
the employer of the child, the object of the law is nullified. The 
physician who grasps the situation and appreciates the humane intent 
of the law, will always find time to visit the factory and see under 
what conditions the child is working. Otherwise his certificate may 
be worse than valueless, and may work a positive injury to a child 
whom the inspectors are trying to save from an injurious occupation. 

Thus a healthy child may wish to enter a cracker bakery, and 
unless the physician visits it, and sees the dwarfish boys slowly 
roasting before the ovens, in the midst of unguarded belting and 
shafting (a danger to health which men refuse to incur), he may be 
inclined to grant the certificate, and thereby deprive the child of the 
only safeguard to his health which the State affords him. Similar 
danger exists in regard to tobacco, picture-frame, box, metal-stamping 
and woodworking factories. 

Unfortunately the law does not require that the physician shall 
visit the workshop or factory, and see the child at work, and certifi- 
cates have in some instances been granted in a disgracefully reckless 
manner. 

A delicate looking little girl was found at work in a badly venti- 
lated tailor shop facing an alley, in the rear of a tenement house. 
The bad location and atmosphere of the shop, and the child's stooping 
position as she worked, led the inspector to demand a health certifi- 
cate. Examination at the office revealed a bad case of rachitis 
and antero-posterior curvature of the spine, one shoulder an inch 
higher than the other, and the child decidedly below the standard 



404 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

weight. Dr. Milligan endorsed upon the age affidavit: "It is my 
opinion that this child is physically incapable of work in any tailor 
shop." The employer was notified to discharge the child. A few 
days later she was found at work again in the same place, and the 
contractor produced the following "certificate," written upon the 
prescription blank of a physician in good and regular standing: 

(Dated.) Dr. M. Meyerovitz, 179 W. 12th St., cor. Jefferson. 
"This is to certify that I examined Miss Annie Cihlar, and found 
her in a physiological condition. 

{Signed,) "Meyerovitz." 

A test case was made, to ascertain the value of the medical certifi- 
cate clause, and the judge decided that this certificate was void, and 
imposed a fine upon the employer for failure to obtain a certificate 
in accordance with the wording of the law. The child then went to 
another physician, and was given the following: 

(Dated.) Dr. Frank J. Patera, 675 W. Taylor st. 

Chicago, November 26, 1893 
" To whom it may concern: 

"This is to certify that I have this day examined Annie Cihlar, 
and find her, in my opinion, healthy. She is well developed for her 
age, muscular system in good condition, muscles are hard and solid; 
the lungs and heart are normal; the muscles of right side of trunk 
are better developed than upon the left side, which has a tendency to 
draw spine to that side, as a result of greater muscular activity upon 
that side. I cannot find no desease [sic] of the spine. 

{Signed,) "F. J. Patera, M.D." 

The sweater, taught by experience, declined to re-engage this 
child until this certificate was approved by an inspector. The 
inspector of course declined to approve it. The charge made for 
these certificates, and others of the same sort, ranged from fifty cents 
to two dollars. 

This experience of illiteracy and unscrupulousness on the part 
of physicians in good and regular standing, indicates a need of 
co-operation among the different functionaries of the State, for there 
is, so far as known to the inspectors, no public physician or body of 
medical men to whom children can be sent for careful examination 
free of charge. The gratis examinations made at this office are due, 
as has already been stated, solely to the generosity of Drs. Milligan 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 405 

and Holmes, and to the faithful work of Dr. Holmes' students, under 
his direction, in making measurements, tests, etc., with no other 
reward than a widened knowledge of the physique of children of the 
wage-earning class 

Physical deterioration. — Every medical examination made in 
this office has been scheduled and filed, and the record formed in this 
manner is a truly appalling exposition of the deterioration of the 
rising generation of the wage-earning class. The human product of 
our industry is an army of toiling children undersized, rachitic, 
deformed, predisposed to consumption if not already tuberculous. 
Permanently enfeebled by the labor imposed upon them during the 
critical years of development, these children will inevitably fail in 
the early years of manhood and womanhood. They are now a 
long way on the road to become suffering burdens upon society, 
lifelong victims of the poverty of their childhood and the greed 
which denies children the sacred right of school life and healthful 
leisure. 

Illiteracy. — The enforcement of Section Four of the law brings 
to light a deplorable amount of iUiteracy among working children. 
Thus, in the first case prosecuted, that against Gustav Ravitz for 
employing a girl under fourteen years of age in his tailor shop, it was 
shown in court that this child had been brought thirteen years before 
to Chicago from Poland, yet she could not read or write in any 
language, nor speak English. Neither she nor her mother knew the 
year of the child's birth, and an interpreter was required in speaking 
with them both. 

A little girl thirteen years of age found at 120 West Taylor 
street (Baumgarten's knee-pants shop), sewing on buttons in the 
bedroom of the sweater's family, was discharged. She is a Russian 
Jewess three years in this country, and does not know her letters. 
She was taken bodily to the Jewish Training School and entered as 
a pupil. 

Greek, Italian, Bohemian, Polish and Russian children are con- 
stantly encountered who speak no English, hundreds of whom cannot 
read nor write in any language. Children who cannot spell their 
name or the name of the street in which they live are found at work 
every day by the deputies. 



4o6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Where these children are under fourteen years of age, they are 
turned over to the compulsory attendance officer of the board of edu- 
cation, but for those over the age of fourteen the state prescribes no 
educational requirement, and unless they look deformed, undersized, 
or diseased, the inspectors have no ground upon which to withdraw 
them from their life of premature toil. And in no case can we insist 
upon rudimentary education for them. 

In this respect the Illinois law is far from abreast with the laws of 
Massachusetts and New York. In Massachusetts every child must 
attend some school throughout the period during which the public 

schools are in session until fourteen years of age New York 

empowers her inspectors to order peremptorily the discharge of any 
child under sixteen years of age who cannot read and write simple 
sentences in the English language. Such a clause as this last one 
would cause the transfer of many hundreds of Illinois children from 
the factory to the schoolroom. 

Instability. — Nor do the children who are deprived of school life 
receive at work any technical training which might in part com- 
pensate for their loss. On the contrary, it has been most forcibly 
shown that the reverse is the case by Assistant Inspector Stevens, 
of this staff, in a valuable paper read before the International Con- 
vention of Factory Inspectors. Mrs. Stevens says: 

"A surprising thing developed by the use of the affidavits is the 
migratory method pursued by the employed children. Our very 
thorough and complete system of handling the registers, records and 
affidavits, enables us to trace a child changing its place of work, and 
also to note the number of changes in any one place. I cite one 
instance typical of all: On August 22, I inspected a candy factory, 
where I found eighty children under 16. For sixty-three of these 
affidavits had been filed, of which I found forty-three correct and 
twenty worthless because improperly made out. The forty-three 
correct affidavits were stamped, seventeen children unprovided 
with affidavits were sent home, and the twenty defective affidavits 
were returned to the children, who were given until the next day to 
get them right. On September 8, another inspector visited this factory 
and found seventy-one children at work with sixty-five affidavits 
awaiting inspection. Only one of these bore the stamp of my pre- 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 407 

vious inspection, two weeks before. The seventy children were a 
new lot, and all but one of the children I had found in this place had 
taken their affidavits and flitted off to other work. In the same 
factory on September 11 — only three days later, and one of those 
a Sunday — a third inspector found 119 children, and, of course, new 
records and an almost total change in the register were again necessary. 

"From such experiences as these we are led to hope that the 
trouble employers will have over the affidavits, the posting of new 
records, the changing of registers, will lead them to the employment 
of older help. Indeed, this candy manufacturer is already seeking 
girls over 16. 

"This drifting about of children at work indicates a most de- 
moralized and demoralizing condition, which should be carefully 
studied by those who argue in favor of giving children employment. 
They talk with insufficient knowledge who say it is an advantage to 
boys and girls to have 'steady occupation,' a 'chance to learn a 
trade.' .... We may well ask what can be learned by a boy or 
girl who is to-day in one factory of one kind and to-morrow in another 
factory of another kind; one week wrapping caramels and the next 
week gilding picture frames ? . . . . What the child does learn is 

instability, unthrift, trifling with opportunity It is a matter 

of the rarest occurrence to find a set of children who have been work- 
ing together two months in any factory." 

(2) Extracts from the Second Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors 
of Illinois, i8q4, pp. 12-21 

Children under 14 years of age. — Although the law prohibits 
absolutely the employment of any child under 14 years of age in 
manufacture, yet the children under 14 years can never be wholly 
kept out of the factories and workshops until they are kept in school. 
At present the school attendance law is almost useless, at least in 
Chicago, where the largest number of children have been found at 
work. Although the Chicago Board of Education employs attend- 
ance agents, yet children leave school to sell papers; to carry cash 
in stores and telegrams and messages in streets; to peddle, black 
boots, "tend the baby," or merely to idle about. Unruly children 



4o8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

are expelled from school to suit the convenience of teachers. Prin- 
cipals of schools have sent to the inspectors children ii years old, 
with the written request that permits be granted to enable the 
children to go to work (in violation of the factory law) because in 
each case the child is "incorrigible." As no factory can be a better 
place for a child ii years old than a reasonably good school, this 
request voices the desire of the Principal to be relieved of the trouble 
of the child. For all these various reasons, and perhaps also because 
of the want of sufficient school accommodations, children are freed 
from school attendance at such a rate that the last school census, 
1894, shows 6,887 children between the ages of 7 and 14 years, in 
Chicago alone, who attend no school. 

Of these thousands, hundreds are seeking work in shops and 
factories, and when they find work and the laws of the state are 
thereby violated, the task of prosecution, which should fall in part 
at least on the Board of Education of Chicago, devolves upon the 
State Factory Inspectors alone. 

Co-operation with the Chicago Board of Education. — In three 
months, September, October and November this department for- 
warded to the compulsory attendance department of the Chicago 
Board of Education, the names and addresses of 76 children under 
14 years of age who were found by inspectors during these months 
at work, in violation of Section 4 of the Factory and Workshop law; 
also the names and addresses of 27 other children who, in these three 
months, applied at the office for permission to go to work in violation 
of the law, and to whom we refused age affidavits because they were 
not yet 14 years old. 

These 103 children under 14 years of age, found at work or seeking 
work since the present school year began, have all been seen and 
talked with by one or more inspectors of this department, and we 
therefore speak with knowledge of each case, when we say that none 
of these children has yet mastered the teachings of a primary school; 
a large number cannot yet write their own names; and some of them 
cannot yet speak the English language. 

As to the environment in which the 76 children were found work- 
ing, 30 were in sweat shops, six in cigar factories and 1 5 at the stock 
yards; leaving only 25 of the 76 in occupations relatively harmless. 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 409 

To rescue in three months 51 children under 14 years of age 
from nicotine poisoning, from the miasma of the stock yards, and 
from the horrible conditions of the sweat shops is to accomplish some- 
thing worth doing, — if we could be certain that the rescue would 
result in added school life and opportunities for normal growth and 
development for the children. Unfortunately our experience has con- 
vinced us that we may find the child discharged today at work 
tomorrow, or next week, in some other shop or factory. 

The State Inspectors having obtained the conviction of 25 
employers upon SS charges of having in their factories or workshops 
children under 14 years of age, while no parent has been prosecuted 
under the school laws, it is manifest that parents are going unpunished 
who share the responsibility for their children's unlawful employment. 

The Board of Education has kindly furnished us a report of the 
disposition made of such of the children reported by us as received 
the attention of its attendance agents during September and October. 
This report shows that the ofi&cers placed in school 31 children out of 
64 investigated by them; a little less than one-half. Upon the 
remaining 33 cases the report shows that several children were not 
found by the attendance agents; a few were given permits to work in 
stores; some were dropped with the remark that the children were 
"incorrigible"; and in 15 cases the mere statement of the parent that 
the child was over 14 was received by the compulsory department as 
sufiicient reason for dropping the case, although in each such case 
the parent declined, in dealing with us, to make afiidavit to show 
the child to be more than 14 years old. 

Nullification of Section 4. — The humane intent of the first clause 
of Section 4 of the workshop and factory law is obvious: that the 
child under 14 years is to be safeguarded by the State against employ- 
ment injurious to it. This intent is nullified if the child is not kept 
in school, but drifts from one workshop into another, or from the 
factories into the streets. 

We therefore recommend that the legislature make the prose- 
cution of derelict parents not as it now is, merely discretionary with 
the local school boards, but mandatory upon them; as the prosecution 
of manufacturers is made mandatory upon the factory inspectors by 
Section 9 of the factory law. 



4IO TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Working children not yet protected by the law. — ^Among the 6,887 
children shown by the Chicago school census of 1894 to be out of 
school between the ages of 7 and 14, there is a horde of little peddlers 
of fruit, vegetables and other wares. These children learn no trade 
and form only habits of roaming the street, irresponsible and lawless. 
When children are expelled from school at 1 1 years of age, and pro- 
hibited from working in factories until 14, they are apt to fall into 
this class. They could be reached by requiring every peddler or 
vendor under 16 years of age to obtain a license from the State Fac- 
tory Inspector, and prohibiting all such work for children under the 
age of 14 years, and for illiterate children under 16 years. 

One evasion of the child labor clauses. — One difficulty encountered 
in the work of inspection seems to require more than passing mention. 
It often happens that an inspector, on entering a cigar shop or 
sweat shop, sees a boy or girl drop into a chair, put on a cap or shawl, 
or pose as a visitor only, a pretense steadfastly supported by the 
"boss," and the other employes in the room. The child's hands 
may be stained with nicotine, or with the fluff of the half-made gar- 
ment, and the inspector may see every indication that the work 
before the child was in its hands when the door of the shop was 
opened; but the story of the "visit" is told and maintained in the 
face of all indications to the contrary. Obviously, any court must 
hesitate to convict the employer of such a child on the unsupported 
testimony of the inspector, where the "boss," the child and the other 
employes of the shop appear in court to contradict the inspector. 
Again, the employer will insist that a child is a member of his family, 
or the child of a neighbor or a relative, and is not an employe; or 
that the child is waiting about to find an errand to do for some one 
in the place. An example of this is afforded by the report of two 
inspectors who visited a bottling place and found, in the room where 
the work was being carried on, three boys under 14 years of age. 
They were told that the boys "just waited around in the hope of 
getting an errand to do, and a glass of beer for doing it." 

To enforce the law as it now stands in places where such subter- 
fuges as these are resorted to, is difficult always, and sometimes 
impossible. We, therefore, recommend that the child labor clauses 
of the law be so amended that the presence of a child in any workshop 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 411 

or factory shall constitute conclusive evidence that it is employed 
therein. 

Children in mercantile establishments. — Many of the more orderly 
and intelligent of the 6,887 Chicago children under 14 years, who are 
out of school, and who are kept out of factories and workshops by the 
law, find work in stores or as telegraph and messenger boys. The 
duty of extending to these children the same degree of protection 
now afforded by the law to the children in factories and workshops 
should not need urging. In Massachusetts and Pennsylvania aU 
the provisions of the factory law apply to mercantile establishments. 

Should Illinois protect such children less ? Is it not a discrimina- 
tion both injurious and anomalous, which leaves the little cash girl 
without the safeguards afforded to her sister in the factory or work- 
shop ? The situation is illustrated by the Christmas experience of 
one of their number. A little girl, 13 years of age, saw, in an evening 
paper of December 23d last, an advertisement for six girls to work 
in one of the best known candy stores ; candidates to apply at seven 
o'clock the next morning at a branch store, one and one-half miles 
from the child's home. To reach the place in time she spent 
five cents of her limch money for car fare. Arriving, she found other 
children, while but one was wanted. She was engaged, as the bright- 
est of the group, and sent to a branch of the establishment at a dis- 
tance of two and one-quarter miles. This time she walked, then 
worked till midnight, paying for her dinner and going without her 
supper. She was paid fifty cents and discharged, with the expla- 
nation that she was only required for one day. No cars were running 
at that hour, and the little girl walked across the worst district of 
Chicago to reach her home, and her terrified mother, at one o'clock on 
Christmas morning. No law was violated in this transaction, not 
even the law which limits the day's work of women and girls to 8 
hours, as mercantile establishments are not yet subject to the pro- 
visions of the factory law. 

Fortunately the development of the pneumatic tube has begun 
to supersede cash children in the more respectable of the retail stores; 
and the extension of the workshop law to the mercantile establish- 
ment would therefore meet with less opposition now than at any 
previous time. 



412 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

Children nominally over 14 years old. — Besides the children con- 
fessedly under 14 years of age, there are others whose parents do not 
accurately know the children's ages, or who perjure themselves for 
the sake of obtaining the children's wages. The experience of the 
notaries in this office has convinced us that large numbers of foreign 
parents keep no record of births and deaths, and literally do not know 
what to swear to in making affidavit to their children's ages. Many 
parents have been sent away from the office with the affidavit unmade 
for this reason, and others have gone away and come back after a 
family council, ready to testify to the date there fixed upon as the 
date of the child's birth. But notaries are not all scrupulous, and 
more than one has been found willing to fill out blanks to suit the 
letter of the law, leaving the ignorant parent to swear to an affidavit 
the perjury of which he was not intelligent enough to recognize, the 
whole performance remaining an empty form, so far as the parent 
and child are concerned. 

Other parents deliberately state one age to the inspector and 
another to the notary, and the sworn statement must, of course, be 
accepted in the absence of records by which it could be proved untrue. 

Insufficient protection afforded by affidavits. — For these reasons 
there are hundreds of children in the factories today provided with 
affidavits of legal age, whom we have reason to regard as being under 
14 years old, and therefore insufficiently protected by the law as it 
stands. The only step which can be taken by us to meet their case 
is the enforcement of the last clause of Section 4, which authorizes 
inspectors to require a certificate of physical fitness for any child who 
may seem unable to perform the labor at which he may be engaged. 
This clause is weak, because it permits any physician in good and 
regular standing to issue such certificates, and does not prescribe 
that the physician shall visit the workroom and see the child at work, 
or shall even thoroughly examine the child. 

Parents have sworn that children are 14 years of age, and physi- 
cians have certified them physically capable of dangerous and 
exhausting work, while the children themselves say that they are but 
II or 12 years old; their small stature supports their assertion, and 
the records of the schools which they left bear entries of statements 
previously made by the parents which correspond with the present 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 413 

claim of the children. Boys weighing from 56 to 61 pounds have 
been thus sworn to and certified fit for injurious work, while a normal, 
healthy school boy of 8 years weighs from 59 to 63 pounds. 

For the further protection of such children other limitations 
should be imposed upon the employment of children under 16 years 
of age. 

Inadequacy of Child Labor Sections.— ReiertncQ to the table of 
prosecutions shows that three of these eight companies have found 
it more profitable to undergo conviction and the payment of fines 
than to dispense with the employment of children or to comply with 
the four labor requirements of the law. 

On the other hand, the employment of go more children each, 
in places such as Kirk's soap factory, Spaulding & Merrick's tobacco 
factory, the Crane Company's iron works, or Norton Bros.' can fac- 
tory at Maywood, where no violation of the child labor clauses are 
found, tends to show that the law as it stands does not sufficiently 
protect children under 16 years of age. At Maywood the company's 
notary makes afiidavits, and the company's physician certifies the 
children fit for their work, and an efficient clerk keeps affidavits, cer- 
tificates, records, and register corrected from day to day. The 
obedience of the corporation to the child labor clauses of the law is 
perfect, but the law itself is so inadequate that it affords virtually no 
protection to life, hmb, health or intelligence. In the great factory 
at Maywood, through all the heat of last summer, little boys worked 
among unguarded shafting and belting, in the fumes of the soldering, 
or crouched on a shelf in every crooked and unwholesome posture, 
poking sharp-edged circles of tin through the holes of the shelf; or 
were seated at stamp and die machines where every fall of the stamp 
is a menace to the fingers and hands. Some of these children, 
Italians, Bohemians and Poles, speak no English, and can not under- 
stand the warnings given them as to the dangers which surround 
them; some of them can not read or write in any language 

Children at the stock yards. — Another illustration of the insuffi- 
ciency of the law as it stands is the presence of 302 boys and 18 girls 
in eight establishments at the stock yards 

Some of these children are boys who cut up the animals as soon 
as the hide is removed, little butchers working directly in the slaughter 



414 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

house, at the most revolting part of the labor performed in the stock 
yards. These children stand, ankle deep, in water used for flooding 
the floor for the purpose of carrying off blood and refuse into the 
drains; they breathe air so sickening that a man not accustomed to it 
can stay in the place but a few moments; and their work is the most 
brutalizing that can be devised. 

Other boys cut bones at a buzz saw, placed within fifty feet of the 
drying racks where skulls and horns are scorching over a flame, and 
the smell of the smoking bones and rags of hide excels in horror all 
the smells for which the stock yards are notorious. Here, in a dark, 
foul passage, young boys work at a machine of the most dangerous 
character, an unguarded buzz saw. No criminal in the United States 
could be punished by an hour's imprisonment in such a place without 
a horrified protest ringing through the land. But these young vic- 
tims are kept there by their employers, day after day, and no voice 
is raised in their behalf. Nor is there any excuse for the existence 
of such surroundings. With the facflities for ventflation and deodor- 
izing that are readily available, this passageway couid be made 
inoffensive. Meanwhile the employment of any human being in 
such a place is an outrage and should be summarily stopped, but the 
law confers upon the inspectors no power to stop it. 

(3) Extracts from the Third Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors 
of Illinois, i8gj, pp. 8-42 

Child labor. — ^The legislature of 1895 made no change in the fac- 
tory law, the child labor provisions of which are, therefore, the same 
as in previous reports, and apply only to children engaged in manu- 
facture; the employment of children in offices, laundries, and mer- 
cantUe occupations being still wholly without legislative restriction. 
The good effects of the law become more manifest each year, as well 
as the urgent need of extending it. 

The percentage of children to total employes has fallen con- 
spicuously in the brief time during which the law has been in force. 
In 1893 the percentage was 8.5; in 1894 it was 6.2; in 1895 it is 4. 5. 
During the panic of 1893, when the total number of employes fell 
to its lowest, and but 76,224 persons were found at work by the 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 415 

inspectors there were 6,456 children under 16 years of age. In 1895 
there were 8,642 children, while the total number of employes found 
at work rose to 190,369. In 1893 there were 85 children under 16 
years of age in the thousand employes; in 1895 the number had 
fallen to 45 in the thousand. 

The standard of size and health of the children employed has 
visibly improved everywhere outside of the sweatshops; and the 
change in this respect is conspicuous when a comparison is made with 
the children employed in laundries and department stores where 
the minimum age is not yet prescribed by law 

Children in sweatshops The report of this department 

for 1894 showed that the 721 children found in the sweatshops of 
Chicago during that year were illiterate, while a majority of them 
could not speak English. In this respect there has been no improve- 
ment. That statement applies equally to the 1,307 children found 
at work in these shops in 1895. 

No staff of ten deputies, with inspections to make throughout the 
State, can successfully watch sweatshops employing 1,307 children, 
with employers and parents conniving to evade and violate the law, 
and the city Board of Education declining to enforce the compulsory 
education law by prosecution. It cannot be claimed that this poHcy 
of inaction of the Board of Education is without bearing on the 
children recorded as over 14 years of age, for it is a notorious fact 
(although legal evidence may be hard to obtain) that the stature of 
the children, and the entries of the public school registers, show at 
least a part of these children to range in reality from 10 to 14 years. 

Nothing effective can be done to redeem the sweated trades or 
the condition of the children employed in them, unless the strong 
arm of the law comes to the assistance of the unfortunate children 
by prohibiting them from crowding into these shops, at least until 
they have learned to read and write simple English. 

In no case has a child of purely American parentage been found 
at work among the illiterate children of the sweatshops. 

The objection of a certain sort of immigrant parent to sending 
his children to school after they are old enough to earn 25 cents a 
week is a purely sordid one; and no other measure seems to offer so 
trenchant an answer to it as the assurance that he cannot put his 



41 6 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

child to work unless it has first received from school at least as much 
benefit as is embodied in a rudimentary knowledge of the English 
language. 

Children in the glass works at Alton. — The child labor sections of 
the law have proved of great benefit to the children employed in glass 
works. Their condition when the law went into effect was more 
pitiable than that of any other working children in this State. It 
was a matter of very great difi&culty to get the law obeyed in this 
industry, because some of the glass companies maintained that the 
work of young children was absolutely indispensable to the manu- 
facture of bottles and other light wares. The inspectors insisted that 
the children under 14 years of age must be replaced by older ones, or 
by some technical improvement. The Illinois Glass Company, at 
Alton, maintained that this was impossible. This company was so 
certain of the impossibility of conducting its business in compliance 
with the law, that a special investigation of the condition of its works 
and of the children employed in them was ordered in January, 1895; 
all the other glass companies in the State having at that time taken 
steps to comply with the requirements of the law. 

The following report sets forth the result of the special investi- 
gation. Since it was made, the company has accomplished that 
which it had declared to be impossible ; making such a rearrangement 
of its "glory-holes" as enabled it to dispense with a large number 
of the smallest boys. WhUe there are still children at work who are 
either dwarfish or have perjured affidavits, the number of larger 
boys has been increased, and 260 affidavits are kept on file. The 
Illinois Glass Company, the largest employer of child labor in the 
State, now finds it possible to comply absolutely with the child labor 
provisions of the law 

Hours of children. — UntU the legislature acts upon the Court's 
suggestion and passes a law hmiting the hours of minors, the chUdren 
are the direst sufferers under the decision of the Supreme Court which 
sets aside the only legislative restriction in this State upon the hours 
of labor. [In the case of Ritchie v. The People, 155 III. g8, the 
eight hour law had been declared unconstitutional in i8gj^ 

Again, as before the factory law was enacted, the employer may 
extend the working day of his employes without let or hindrance, 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 417 

and among these employes may be delicate little children. There is 
no more protection for them against the cruel exaction of overtime 
work than there is for the strongest man employed. If the child has 
reached its 14th birthday, and the employer is armed with the parent's 
afifidavit to that effect, the child may be lawfully required to work 
20 hours at a stretch. 

No law of Illinois is violated when little lads work all night in 
rollmg mills where nails are made; when little boys, just 14 years of 
age according to the parent's afi&davit (but 10 years old or less if 
judged by weight and size), fetch and carry bottles all night in glass 
works, trotting from furnace to cooling oven and back again at the 
call of the blower, in the glow of the melter's fires; then going out 
into the cold, dark night to stumble, ill-clad and shivering, to their 
homes. It is the tradition of these two occupations that their trade 
life is, and has always been, among the shortest in the skilled trades. 

In the sweatshops of Chicago, both men and girls faint from 
exhaustion at their machines, and during the "rush" season in the 
garment trades this is no rare occurrence. Yet when a girl in a 
sweatshop is unable to ply her machine, by foot power, from seven 
in the morning to four the next morning, the sweater tells her — 'and 
truthfully — that there are others who wiU take her place and do his 
work on his terms 

In Chicago children are employed long hours in two occupations 
which do not come under the factory law — the mercantile establish- 
ments and the laundries. In many sections of this city the stores 
are kept open five evenings in the week, and the children employed 
in these stores work 10 and 11 hours a day. Stores having special 
hoUday trade employ thousands of children during the season, and 
exact of them the same number of extra hours that are exacted from 
the older employes. On Christmas Eve these children were dis- 
missed from the great department stores at hours ranging from 10:45 
P.M. to 12:20 A.M. During the working days of the two preceding 
weeks, these children had been obliged to be alertly on duty from 10 
to 12 hours per day. It is beheved by all who have investigated 
holiday employment of children that permanent injury to the children 
results, in many ways, from it; and that no real gain accrues, not 
even temporary alleviation of financial stringency in their homes. 



4i8 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

The employment is for a very short time, and the pay received is 
very little. The chUd, demoralized by the taste of money-earning, 
spends days and weeks in seeking another place, not understanding 
that no employer wants her until the holiday season comes around 
again. Thus, for a few days' earnings she sacrifices a winter's school 
life. The physical strain of the work throughout long hours, for 
which there has been no gradual preparation, exhausts her vitality; 
and, in this exhausted condition, overheated by running in the warm 
air of the store, she goes out into the cold night. When this has 
been done night after night, throughout the holiday season, the child 
may have sacrificed, in addition to her winter's school life, her chance 
for normal development into healthy womanhood. 

In laundries, the only limit to the hours of work of children seems 
to be the limit of their usefulness. It has been found that their little 
fingers become expert at "marking," and at this they are much em- 
ployed, although they are also found at mangles and other dangerous 
machines used in steam laundries. Marking is one of the occupations 
which superficial observers class as "light and easy," but handUng 
soiled clothing on its way to the washing machine is not fit work for 
any child. Apart from the unfitness, there is great danger of infec- 
tion ; much greater in the case of young children exhausted by over- 
work in the heat and steam of the laundry than in the case of older 
persons. Marking is, unfortunately, one of the branches of laundry 
work which begins early in the day and holds far out into the night. 
The following complaint was received at this oi3ice on June 3, 1895: 
"Goodhart's laundry has a number of little girls who don't look to 
be 12 years old. They worked last Saturday from 7 : 30 in the morn- 
ing until Sunday morning at 3 o'clock. Their mothers were wild 
about them." As laundries do not come under the Factory Act, the 
inspectors could do nothing in this case — not even order the discharge 
of the children under 14 years of age. It was not, therefore, surprising 
that a second complaint was received concerning this plant, dated 
September 9, 1895, stating that "children under 11 years old are 
working there, and are made to work overtime until 9 o'clock every 
night." These conditions prevail in all laundries employing children. 

In every trade and occupation, including those where the work 
is not, in itself, injurious, it is observed that the places in which 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 419 

children are employed in large numbers are those where the worst 
general conditions for the employes prevail 

In all computation of the hours of working children in Chicago, 
this time spent in going to and from the place of employment must 
be taken into account. The journey is generally some miles long, 
and not infrequently the small wage of the child necessitates its walk- 
ing. The hours needed for the sleep of a young child are thus seriously 
curtailed. The exhausted children from the stores reach their homes 
at any time from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., according to the hour of leaving 
work and the distance of the home from the store. In an investiga- 
tion of the employment of children under 14 years of age in a pickle 
factory in Bowmanville, .... the inspector found that these chil- 
dren, aged from 10 to 14 years, were obliged to leave their homes 
before 4 o'clock in the morning in order to be at the factory when the 
whistle blew for the work to begin, which was at 6:30. 

To the physical and moral deterioration of children consequent 
upon this failure to regulate the hours of their work must be added 
the educational loss. Their hours of labor being unrestricted, the 
poor opportunity is thereby rendered illusory which is offered through 
the night school to the working child in more progressive States, in 
which the hours of employment of minors are fixed by law. It fre- 
quently happens in Illinois that a weary child has no sooner begun to 
attend night school than a notice is posted in the factory that failure 
to work throughout the evening will be followed by discharge. 
Where evening work is not required, the long day of ten hours, 
followed by the journey home on foot, so exhausts the chUd that it 
creeps into the evening school utterly incapable of mental exercise. 
The experience of teachers of night schools is that it is impossible to 
keep children awake over their books who have been shut up in store 
and factory through the day 

The medical certificate clause. — Section 4 of the law provides that 
the inspectors may demand a certificate of physical fitness from some 
regular physician of good standing in case of children who may appear 
to them physically unable to perform the labor at which they are 



The enforcement of this clause was expected to effect the removal 
from factories and workshops of the large number of children who 



420 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

are deformed or manifestly diseased. Persistent enforcement of it 
was also expected to enable the inspectors to obtain the discharge of 
all children engaged in occupations injurious, whether because of the 
nature of the materials used, or of the temperature, or of the processes 
carried on, or for any other reason. Incidentally, parents inclined 
to perjury were to be checkmated by the requirement of a certificate 
of physical fitness for all children conspicuously undersized. 

Unfortunately, the statute did not empower the inspector to 
prescribe who shall make the certificate, nor that the making of it 
shall be preceded by the examination of the child or of its place of 
work. It was probably assumed by the legislature which enacted 
the statute that these essentials could be left to the faithfulness and 
honor of the medical profession. The experience of two and a half years 
compels us to the conclusion that this confidence was misplaced. 

The medical certificate clause has been rendered nugatory by the 
reckless manner in which dispensary and "company" physicians 
have issued certificates gratis to all comers, irrespective of the physical 
condition of the child or the injurious nature of its occupation. In 
no case known to the inspectors has a child for whom a certificate 
has been required failed to obtain one, either from the sources men- 
tioned, or from some ignorant practitioner, upon payment of a sum 
ranging from 25 cents to $2. 

When the contractor in a sweatshop has been prohibited from 
employing a child until a certificate is obtained, it has been only a 
question where the nearest unscrupulous practitioner has his office. 
Sooner or later one is found who issues a certificate, correct in form, 
but bearing no relation to the child's size, age, physical condition, 
or to the nature of the occupation 

The Compulsory Education law .... interlocks so closely 
with the child labor provisions of the factory law that no report on 
the child labor found in this State would be complete, which did not 
give full weight to this intimate relation of the two laws and their 
enforcement. 

[The text of the Compulsory Education law is omitted; for 
its provisions are summarized in chap, v, ante, pp. 69-88.] 

It will be observed that the law requires but 16 weeks of school 
attendance, of which but 12 weeks need be consecutive. This leaves 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 421 

36 weeks free in each year, during which parents and employers are 
subject to the temptation to put an idle child at work in violation of 
the factory law. 

The enforcement of the meager provisions of the Compulsory 
Education law is left to the option of local authorities. The inequal- 
ity which grows out of this option is well illustrated by the condition 
of the children in two manufacturing cities in opposite ends of 
the State. In Alton, in January, 1895, there were found .... 
200 children under the age of 14 years, at work in a single establish- 
ment. Their employment was in direct violation of both the Com- 
pulsory Education law and the Factory act. The school board of 
Alton had not appointed a truant officer or made any attempt to 
enforce the Compulsory Education law 

The attitude of the Board of Education of Chicago is illustrated 
by two passages from its report for the year ending June 28, 1895. 
In the course of his report to the Board, Dr. Bluthardt, Superin- 
tendent of Compulsory Education, says: "The work of the Com- 
pulsory Department, shown by the yearly report, placed over 3,700 
children in school; including many brought in for the first time, and 
truants who have dropped out from time to time. The same spirit , 
has been carried out as in the past, and the only forces brought to bear 
have been persuasion and watchfulness — no cases of prosecution having 
been made." In the list of accepted excuses occur the following: 

Indifference (parent's carelessness) 160 

Not vaccinated (parent's neglect) 237 

Working at home 262 

With such excuses accepted by the Board of Education for 
the non-attendance of children of compulsory school age and 
without prosecution, the Factory Inspectors cannot hope to 
keep all the children under 14 years of age out of the factories and 
workshops. 

In the same report, Mr. x^lbert G. Lane, Superintendent of 
Schools, says: "The fifteen truant agents, appointed by the Board 
of Education to visit different sections of the city and to notify 
parents of chUdren who do not attend school that the law requires 
them to do so, have done the best they could under the existing 



42 2 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

conditions. The law is ineffective, because no penalty can be 
enforced. Some good is accomplished by serving notices upon 
parents that the children should attend school, but wherever parents 
are indifferent or deliberately keep their children from school no effort 
has been made to enforce the law J' 

The question naturally arises: How can the Board of Education 
know that no penalty can be enforced, when no case has ever been 
tried under the law and no judicial decision obtained ? 

It is in part, by reason of the fact that "no effort has been made 
to enforce the law" by the Board of Education, that the inspectors 
of this department were, in 1895, under the disagreeable necessity 
of prosecuting 56 employers upon the charge of employing 80 children 
under the age of 14 years. Even where we order the discharge of the 
child, forward its name to the Board of Education, and prosecute the 
employer, we too often find the same child at work in a second or 
third shop, still under the required age. During the year, one boy 
was the cause of our prosecuting two different employers in less than 
two months. The parents of this boy were not prosecuted by the 
Board of Education, though they violated the Compulsory Education 
law every day that the boy worked. 

It would strengthen the efforts of this department very much, if 
all the children were kept in school even the 16 weeks per annum which 
the law requires, and would remedy the injustice of holding the 
employer alone responsible, and letting the parent go unpunished, 
who certainly shares the moral responsibility and ought to be held 
to it under the Compulsory Education law. 

So long as we are without a stringent Compulsory Education 
law and local boards able and willing to enforce it, we shall have 
children doing the work of men and women while they should be in 
school, and growing up unable to read and write, as we find children 
in the Illinois factories and workshops every day. 

While the most helpless children are left unprotected by the 
non-enforcement of the Compulsory Education law, poverty-stricken 
parents and sordid employers will leave them in ignorance for the sake 
of the money which can be gained at the cost of the children. Nor 
can any effort of the factory inspectors, however faithful and pains- 
taking, make good the wrong done the children. 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 423 

We therefore again recommend that the prosecution of dereUct 
parents be made mandatory upon local school boards, as the prose- 
cution of manufacturers who employ children under 14 years of age 
is made mandatory upon the Factory Inspector, by Section 9 of the 
Factory law. 

The failure of the school authorities to supply school accommo- 
dations for the children who are ready and willing to go to school 
aggravates the failure to enforce the compulsory attendance law in 
some places. In Alton, while 200 children under 14 years of age were 
at work in the glass works, there were on the list of applicants for 
admission to the schools 240 children in excess of the seats provided. 
In Chicago the report of the Board of Education for 1895 (p. 42) 
shows that "the number of children in rented rooms at the close of 
the year 1894 was 9,661, and at the close of 1895 it was 11,674. 
The number of children in half-day divisions at the close of 1894 was 
14,086; at the close of 1895 it was 17,545." In addition to this, the 
latest school census of Chicago showed 6,887 children of school age 
who were attending no school whatever. 

In a single ward of Chicago (the 19th) the seating capacity of the 
four public schools is 3,437, or 4,135 less than the number of children 
of school age (7,572), as shown by the school census of 1894. Thus 
less than 50 per cent of the children of school age in this ward are 
provided with seats in the public schools. These children cannot 
overflow into the schools of adjacent wards, for these also lack ade- 
quate accommodations. This 19th ward, with the three wards 
adjoining to the south and west (the 7th, 8th and 9th), form a vast 
working people's district. The residents are chiefly Italians, Bohe- 
mians, and Russian Jews, and among them are thousands of wage- 
earning children. These children of immigrant toilers need the 
best educational facilities which any American city can provide, if 
they are to develop into useful citizens of value to the industrial hfe 
of their generation. 

The ignorance of working children. — The logical product of the 
educational policy of Illinois is the presence in the factories and work- 
shops of a large body of ignorant and illiterate children. 

Some of the children who come to this ofi&ce to have age affidavits 
made, born in Chicago and brought up under the shadow of the public 



424 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

schools, cannot write their names, and many who can do this can 
write nothing else. In general, it is true that children taken as 
witnesses from the stockyards, the sweatshops and the tenement 
house cigar shops, cannot write or read a simple sentence in the 
English language. In the course of the prosecutions carried on 
during the present year, children have been called as witnesses who, 
born in Chicago or brought here in infancy, yet cannot answer in 
English such simple questions, as "What is your name?" "Where 
do you live?" "Do you know how old you are?" "What is the 
name of the firm you are working for ?" Hence the evidence of the 
children is frequently taken through a Polish, Russian or Bohemian 
interpreter 

All the illiterate children ought to be turned out of the factories 
and workshops and into schools for purposes of instruction. But, 
besides this immediate purpose, there is another important point to 
be gained by requiring a certain grade of intelligence of all children 
before permitting them to go to work, viz.: the re-inforcement of the 
age limit. 

In order to enforce the prohibition of the employment of children 
under the age of 14 years, the statute requires that before any child 
goes to work, there must first be obtained and placed on file an 
affidavit made by the parent or guardian stating the name, date and 
place of birth of every child employed under the age of 16 years. 
This provision is intended to throw upon the parent, where it properly 
belongs, the responsibility for the statement, under oath, of the exact 
age of the child. In the case of intelligent and conscientious parents 
this provision works well, and enforced by prosecution of all manu- 
facturers found employing children without affidavits, has done much 
to raise the standard of age and stature of the children employed in 
factories and workshops compared with those in mercantile occupa- 
tions where the minimum age of work is not yet prescribed by law. 
But the provision breaks down in the case of the very children who 
need it most, the children of illiterate and degraded parents. 

Many of the parents who come to this office to make affidavit 
to the age of their children do not definitely know the age; or, if they 
know it, they can, for lack of available birth records, falsify it without 
fear of detection. Many parents are ready to swear to any state- 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 425 

ment, to trust the notary to fill the blank in any way which will 

enable the child to go to work at once Whenever there is 

reasonable doubt as to the age of children, the parents are sent away 
with the affidavit unmade ; but the first notary to whom they go after 
leaving the office usually fills the blank, and we have no authority to 
dispute its correctness, when we subsequently find it in a shop. 
Parents have sworn that children were 14 years of age, though the 
children themselves said they were but 11 or 12 years old; their small 
stature supported their assertion and the records of the schools they 
left bear entries of statements previously made by the parents which 
correspond with the claim of the children. Some parents deliber- 
ately state one age to the inspectors and another to the notary 
who makes the affidavit, and the sworn statement must be 
accepted in the absence of birth records by which it could be 
proved untrue 

(4) Extracts from the Fourth Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors 
of Illinois, i8g6, pp. 10- jo 

Child labor.— The child labor provisions of the law have not been 
amended or altered since it was enacted in 1893, and apply only to 
manufacturing establishments, factories and workshops. Their 
object is to prohibit the employment of children under 14 years of 
age in manufacture. There is no provision for limiting the employ- 
ment of illiterate children, or safeguarding life and limb of those who 
have reached 14 years. The clause which provides for health certifi- 
cates is nugatory. There is no restriction upon the hours of labor. 
When children 14 years old are equipped with age affidavits and 
health certificates, there is no power in any officer of the State to 
regulate the nature of the work selected for them, or the conditions 
under which the work is performed. They may be required to work 
all night, or seven days in the week, and in the most dangerous 
occupations 

Education. — The educational status of the children found at 
work shows no improvement. From garment and cigar shops 
children are still taken into court as witnesses in factory cases who 
speak no English, some of them having lived several years in the 



426 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

State, in dense foreign colonies; and going to school, if at all, where 
English is not taught. 

The compulsory school law remains a dead letter, no prosecution 
ever having been undertaken, so far as is known to this department, 
for its enforcement by any board of education. The weakness of its 
provisions continues to serve as excuse for continued failure to prose- 
cute parents for violating it. 

It is therefore still the unpleasant duty of the inspectors to 
prosecute employers for hiring children under 14 years of age, in 
violation of the factory law. It is manifestly unfair to let parents 
go unpunished who share with employers the responsibility for this 
illegal work, and who should be held responsible under the compul- 
sory attendance law, as manufacturers are held under the factory law. 
This duty properly devolves upon both the inspectors and the local 
school authorities, and neither can perform it effectively alone. 

Until there are schools for the children, and a compulsory edu- 
cation law that is enforced, the factory inspectors cannot keep all the 
children under 14 years out of factories and workshops. While an 
effective factory law is the best possible supplement to a good com- 
piilsory education law, neither can take the place of the other; and 
the attempt to enable the factory inspectors to do the work of truant 
officers can never be successful 

In manufacturing centers there is the same lack of school accom- 
modations to which attention has been called in previous reports, as 
one great reason for the illiteracy prevailing among working children 
in this State. 

In Chicago, the City Council has taken a distinctly retrograde 
step in reducing the school appropriations by $2,000,000 for 1896-97, 
thus checking the building of school houses, and depriving thousands 
of working class children of the opportunity for school life which 
primary schools are supposed to extend to all alike. That the work- 
ing children are thus vitally affected, the report of the Chicago Board 
of Education for 1896 shows. 

Mr. D. R. Cameron, president of the Board, says: "The number 
of sittings owned by the Board has increased during the past year 
14,519, an equivalent of 16, 20-room school buildings. The total 
enrolment of pupils in our schools during the year 1894-5 was 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 427 

201,380, and for the year 1895-6 reached the aggregate of 215,784 
pupils, an increase of 14,404; whereby, it wUl be noted, the number 
of new sittings for this last year exceeded the additional enrolment 
of pupils by 115, not a great gain, yet a gain. This is a most satis- 
factory showing, for, so far as my knowledge extends, it is the first 
time in years that the work of this important committee (Buildings 
and Grounds) has outrun the increase of school membership. This 
gratifying record might have become a reasonable hope for the future 
had not the Common Council so seriously crippled the work of the Board 
by a reduction of $2,000,000 from its resources for the year 1896-7. 

"The serious crippling of this department must re-act in adverse 
ways and meet its compensation in increased expenditure for police, 
judicial and penal institutions. The whole policy of a government 
is summed up in the requirement, educate or punish. To cheapen 
one is to multiply the cost of the other by a large ratio. The schools 
are our social and political safeguards, especially so when, in our 
cosmopolitan population, we are confronted not so much with the 
question of educating a homogeneous people, but with the far more 
difl&cult problem of providing educational facilities for children of 
every nationality under the sun." 

The committee on Buildings and Grounds reports: "We have 
reduced the number of children in half-day divisions from 20,000 in 

September, 1895 to 15,708 in June, 1896 But it must be borne 

in mind that we have, besides those children in half-day divisions 
about 11,700 others in rented rooms, just as many as we had at the 
beginning of the school year. Were it not for the curtailment of our 
funds by the City Council, next year we should have made rapid 
strides towards the completion of enough schools to accommodate 
every child seeking an education. 

"No additional buildings can be started, and in accepting the 
situation we have simply to rest in the consciousness that no matter 
what our needs are, we cannot spend what we have not got." 

How brief is the school life of the majority of the children, Mr. 
A. G. Lane, Superintendent of Schools, shows in his report, as follows: 
"Sixty-seven and three-tenths per cent, of the average daily mem- 
bership was in the primary grades; twenty-eight and a half per cent, 
was in the grammar grades, and four and 23/100 per cent, was in the 



428 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

high school grades. I repeat the statement and table printed last 
year, showing that nearly seventy per cent, of the children who enter 
school each year remain in school until they become members of the 
fifth grade, which is the first grammar grade, and embraces the fifth 
year's work." 

Children usually enter school at six years of age and finish 
a grade a year. Mr. Lane's figures, therefore, indicate that rather 
more than thirty per cent, of the children leave school under the age 
of eleven years, forty per cent, at about that age, while rather less 
than thirty per cent, remain longer in school. Conceding that a por- 
tion faU to pass a grade a year, and remain in the primary grades six 
or seven years, the inference would still be unavoidable that two- 
thirds of the children leave the public schools far below the legal age 
of work. While this state of things continues, the factory inspectors 
cannot obtain complete compliance with the law prohibiting employ- 
ment of children under 14 years of age. 

It is sometimes urged in mitigation of the early employment of 
children that the ambitious ones who really care for self -improvement, 
can continue their studies in the night schools. On this point Mr. 
Lane says: "There were 3,263 persons under 15 years of age in 
attendance (at the night schools). Many of the younger ones, pupils 
in the elementary grades, are irregular and lack interest, which is 
caused largely by physical exhaustion." 

Children who have worked all day with the intensity demanded 
by the conditions of work in our time are in no state to profit by the 
best possible teaching in the evening. 

The introduction of manual training into the public schools (it 
has been introduced into 66 schools in Chicago alone during 1896) 
aggravates the disadvantage of the boy who drops out of the fifth 
grade, or a lower one, to spend his days in some wretched brainless 
manipulation, which teaches him no trade, and leaves him less valu- 
able, because less eager and wide-awake, than the boy who has never 
worked for wages. 

In the three and a half years since the creation of this department 
a large number of affidavits have been filled out in the office for 
children just 14 years old, who were going to work for the first time. 
The eager ambition of these children (mixed, perhaps, with a certain 



CHILD LABOR AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION 429 

pleasure in escaping from school) is to earn money and "make a 
living." But precocity is dangerous in this, as in everything else, 
and later acquaintance with many of these children shows a serious 
deterioration in moral fibre. 

A lad going to work thus early, hoping to help his widowed 
mother, soon finds his work precarious, and his wages, even when he 
is steadily employed, insufiicient to maintain the family, who remain 
dependent on charity. If the boy, starting with this noble impulse, 
escape all the accidents to which the rashness of childhood subjects 
him even beyond the exposure common to all employes; and if he 
retain his health, in spite of the injurious surroundings of his work, 
he is stUl likely to deteriorate into a weary drudge, lacking all the 
grit and energy which every man needs who is to hold his own in the 
industrial Ufe of this generation. 

No acquisition of a skilled trade compensates the child of today 
for loss of the education afforded by the primary schools. There 
might have been some such compensation in the early days when 
boys learned trades which assured them a livelihood. Far from 
having any educational value, the work which young children now 
perform, teaches them chiefly instability and disregard of the future. 
Having learned how little they can earn by their utmost exertion, 
and balancing this exertion against the pay, they too often settle 
down into mere "corner loafers," valueless to the community, to the 
family, and to themselves. This undermining effect upon character, 
of premature entry upon the work of life, though less conspicuous 
than some other dangers of child labor, is no less serious. 

The New York compulsory school law extends to the age of 16 
years, and the New York factory law authorizes inspectors to order 
the discharge of children under 16 years of age who cannot read and 
write simple Enghsh. Under this provision the inspectors ordered 
the discharge of 238 illiterate children in one year, and report a marked 
decrease in illiteracy since the provision went into effect. Parents 
have learned that an immediate commercial value attaches to some 
slight mastery of the English tongue by their children. This prohi- 
bition of employment of children who cannot read and write in 
English would be especially beneficial in Illinois, where a large body 
of the foreign-born population is not yet assimilated. 



430 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

We recommend that the prosecution of parents derelict under 
the compulsory education law be made mandatory upon local school 
boards, as the prosecution of manufacturers who employ children 
under 14 years of age is mandatory upon the Factory Inspector. 

For children over 14 years of age, we recommend the enactment 
of the requirement that they must be able to read and write simple 
English before going to work 

Some children are sent to work because the father drinks, and 
does not support the family. Others leave school because the tradi- 
tion is wide-spread and powerful that a child who has reached the 
age of confirmation is ready to enter upon the work of life. This 
tradition is deeply rooted among foreign colonies, where recent immi- 
grants are eager to turn the earning capacity of the children to account 
at the earliest moment. "I have fed her 14 years, and now she can 
help me pay off my mortgages," was the reply of a stalwart, pros- 
perous looking immigrant when asked why he wanted an affidavit 
for his crooked-backed, puny child, on her 14th birthday. 

A secondary cause of employment of children is the belief that 
their labor is cheap. This cheapness is largely illusory. In the 
glass industry, when the youngest boys were removed by enforcement 
of the law, a slight technical improvement immediately took their 
place; and with its help their work is now done by older boys, without 
added cost to manufacturers. In the book-binding trade, the folding 
machine is replacing the smaller girls in all the best equipped binderies. 
Even when no new machinery follows removal of the younger children, 
a boy or girl just over 1 6 costs very little more in wages than one under 1 5 . 

If no child under 16 years of age were employed after tomorrow, 
it is doubtful whether the actual increase in cost to employers gen- 
erally would be perceptible. 

Premature work costs the children the years of education and 
normal growth which prepare for healthy and useful manhood and 
womanhood. It engenders incompetent employes, incapable of 
entire self-support. It disables a large proportion of workers, by 
undermining their health in childhood. It often ends in mutilation 
by exposing ignorant and reckless boys and girls to dangerous ma- 
chinery and explosives. To the children and to the community, 
then, this work is not cheap; it is intolerably expensive. 



APPENDIX IV 

EARLY LAWS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS RELATING TO THE 

ESTABLISHMENT OF FREE SCHOOLS, COMPULSORY 

EDUCATION, AND CHILD LABOR 

Extracts from: (i) An Act Providing for the Establishment of Free Schools, 
1825; (2) An Act to Provide for the Application of the Interest of the 
Fund Arising from the Sale of the School Lands Belonging to the 
Several Townships in This State, 1833; (3) An Act Relating to 
Schools in Township Thirty -nine North, Range Fourteen East, 1835; 
(4) An Act to Establish and Maintain a System of Free Schools, 1855; 
(s) An Act to Secure to All Children the Benefits of an Elementary 
Education, 1883. 

(i) Extracts from "An Act Providing for the Establishment of 
Free Schools" {in force January 75, 182 j) 

To enjoy our rights and liberties, we must understand them; 
their security and protection ought to be the first object of a free 
people; and it is a well established fact that no nation has ever 
continued long in the enjoyment of civil and political freedom, which 
was not both virtuous and enlightened; and believing that the 
advancement of literature always has been, and ever will be the means 
of developing more fully the rights of man, that the mind of every 
citizen in a republic is the common property of society, and consti- 
tutes the basis of its strength and happiness; it is therefore considered 
the peculiar duty of a free government, like ours, to encourage and 
extend the improvement and cultivation of the intellectual energies 
of the whole: Therefore, 

I. Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois, represented 
in the General Assembly, That there shall be established a common 
school or schools in each of the counties of this state, which shall be 
open and free to every class of white citizens, between the ages of 
five and twenty-one years: Provided, That persons over the age of 

431 



432 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

twenty-one years, may be admitted into such schools, on such terms 
as the trustees of the school district may prescribe. 

2. Be it further enacted, That the county commissioners' courts, 
shall, from time to time, form school districts in their respective 
counties, whenever a petition may be presented for that purpose 
by a majority of the qualified voters, resident within such con- 
templated district 

4. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the trustees 
to superintend the schools within their respective districts; .... 
to make an annual report to the county commissioners' court of the 
proper county, of the number of children living within the bounds of 
such district, between the ages of five and twenty-one years, and 
what number of them are actually sent to school, with a certificate 
of the time a school is actually kept up in the district, with the 
probable expense of the same. .... 

22. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the inhab- 
itants of any district, at their regular or called meetings, to make such 
regulations for building or repairing school houses as they may think 
necessary, and for furnishing the school house with fire-wood and 
furniture; they shall have power to class themselves, and agree upon 
the number of days each person or class shall work in making such 
improvements, and aU other regulations that they may think neces- 
sary to accomplish such building or improvement: Provided, how- 
ever, That no person shall be required to do any work, or pay for 
such improvements or wood, unless they have the care of a child 
between the age of five and twenty-one years, or unless he shall attend 
the school for the purpose of obtaining instruction; and for any 
neglect or refusal to do such work, by any one of the inhabitants, 
according to this act, there shall be a fine for each day they shall so 
neglect or refuse to work of seventy-five cents. 

24. Be it further enacted. That whenever the tax is levied, accord- 
ing to the twelfth section of this act, in good merchantable produce, 
it shall be lawful for the trustees to make out a list, with a warrant, 
stating amounts to be collected in produce; and they shall have power 
to transfer the list and warrant to any teacher or teachers that they 
may have employed, who shall have full power to collect the same; 
and if any person shall refuse or neglect to pay their respective 



EARLY LAWS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 433 

amounts, in produce, for two weeks after demanded, it shall be lawful 
to collect the same in cash: Provided, That whenever there is any 
disagreement about the price of any produce offered in payment, it 
shall be the duty of each to select one disinterested house-keeper, 
to value the same, and if they cannot agree it shall be their duty to 
choose a third, and all such valuation shall be binding. 
i, January 15, 1825. 



(2) Extracts from "An Act to Provide for the Application of the 
Interest of the Fund Arising from the Sale of the School 
Lands Belonging to the Several Townships in This State' ^ 
{in force May i, 1833) 

3. On the first Saturday in May next, or if the school shall com- 
mence after that time, then at some time within one month after the 
commencement of the school, a meeting of the employers of the 
teachers shall be held, of which meeting the teachers shall give three 
days previous notice, to each of his employers, who are not absent 
from the neighborhood, at which meeting such employers shall pro- 
ceed to appoint three persons as trustees of said schools; said trustees 
shall be authorized, and it shall be their duty to visit the school from 
time to time, and to require the admission into the school, and the 
gratuitous tuition of such children residing in the vicinity of the school 
as shall be presented to said trustees for that purpose, if such trustees 
shall believe that the parents or guardians of such children are unable 
to pay for their tuition. It shall also be the duty of said trustees to 
receive and apply to the use of the school, any donations of money, 
books, maps, globes, stationery, or other articles necessary or useful 
for schools 

4. The teacher shall make a schedule of the names of all scholars 
attending his school, who reside within the township to which the 
school fund belongs, from the interest of which he wishes to obtain 
a part of his compensation; and on every day on which a school shall 
be kept by him, he shall set down under the proper date, and opposite 
the name of each scholar, the attendance or absence of such scholar. 
Immediately after the close of the month of October, or sooner, if his 
school shall have come to a close, said teacher shall add together the 



434 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

number of days which each scholar residing in the proper township 
shall have attended his school, and set down the total number of days 
opposite the name of such scholar; he shall then add together their 
several amounts, and set down the total number at the bottom of the 
schedule; and this total number, after the schedule shall have been 
examined, and if necessary corrected by the school commissioner, 
shall be the criterion by which he shall be governed in making the 
apportionment aforesaid; but no such schedule shall be taken into 
consideration unless it shall be accompanied by a certificate from 
a majority of the trustees of the school, or from five of the employers 
of said teacher, setting forth that they verily believe said schedule 
to be correct, and that said teacher has, to the best of their knowledge 
and belief, given gratuitous instruction in said school, to all such 
orphans and children of indigent parents residing in the vicinity, as 
have been presented for that purpose by the trustees of said school. 
If any school shall contain scholars residing in two or more different 
townships, each possessing a productive school fund derived from 
their school lands, the teacher of the school in order to become entitled 
to a share of the interest of each of said township school funds, shaU 
make separate schedules of the names of his scholars residing in each 
of said townships, and make return thereof to the school commissioner 
of the county in which such township, or the larger part thereof, shall 
be situated. In making the apportionment authorized by the fore- 
going part of this act, no services of any teacher shall be taken into 
consideration, except such as shall have been rendered between the 
last day of April and the first day of November of the present year. 
5. On the second Monday of November, in the year one thousand 
eight-hundred and thirty-four, or within one week thereafter, and 
at the same time in each succeeding year, each school commissioner 
shall proceed to apportion the interest derived from each township 
school fund in his county, among the several teachers entitled to 
the same. In all cases where such interest is not required to pay the 
expenses incident to the survey and sale of the school lands, and the 
management of the fund, such apportionment of interest shall be 
made among the several teachers entitled to it, according to the num- 
ber of their scholars residing in the township possessed of such school 
fund, and the number of days each of said scholars shall have been 



EARLY LAWS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 435 

instructed by such teacher, within the twelve months immediately 
preceding the month in which such apportionment is hereby required 
to be made, to be ascertained in the mode pointed out in the fourth 
section of this act 

(3) Extracts from '^An Act Relating to Schools in Township 

Thirty-nine North, Range Fourteen East" (in the City of 

Chicago) (in force February 6, 1835) 

I. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, repre- 
sented in the General Assembly, That the legal voters in township 
thirty-nine north, range fourteen east, in Cook County, shall assemble 
at the usual place of holding elections in the said township, on the 
first Monday in June next, and annually thereafter, and elect either 
five or seven persons to be school inspectors, who shall continue in 
ofiice one year and untU others are elected 

3. The said school inspectors, or some of them, shall visit 
all of the public schools within the township, at least once a month; 
inquire into the progress of the scholars and the government of the 
schools; examine all persons offering themselves as candidates for 
teaching, and when found well qualified, give them certificates 
thereof gratuitously, and attend at the quarterly examinations of 
the scholars. They may advise and direct as to the books to be 
used, and the course of study to be pursued in the schools; may 
remove teachers for any just cause; make by-laws for the regulations 
of the schools: Provided, That a majority of the voters, at any legal 
meeting of the township called for the purpose, may repeal such by- 
laws; may divide the schools into male and female departments, if 
they think it expedient; and if a majority of the legal voters of the 
township shall require it, they may establish one or more high schools, 
under such regulations as a majority of such legal voters may pre- 
scribe; and they may do such other things in relation to schools, 
not inconsistent with this act, as a majority of the legal voters of 
the township may direct. 

4. The legal voters in each school district, shall annually elect 
three persons to be trustees of common schools, whose duty it shall 
be to employ qualified and suitable teachers; to see that the schools 
are free, and that all the white children in the district have an oppor- 



436 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

tunity of attending them, under such regulations as the inspectors 
may make; to take charge of the school houses, and all of the school 
property belonging to the district, and to manage the whole financial 
concerns thereof. The said trustees shall annually levy and collect 
a tax sufficient to defray the necessary expense of fuel, rent of school 
room, and furniture for the same; and they shall levy and collect such 
additional taxes as a majority of the legal voters of the district, at a 
meeting called for that purpose, shall direct: Provided, That such 
additional taxes shall never exceed one-half of one per cent, per 
annum upon all the taxable property in the district; all of which 
taxes the said trustees shall have full power to assess and coUect. 

6. The trustees of each district shall, at the end of every quarter, 
make report to the school inspectors in writing, which report shall 
set forth the number of schools within the district; the time that 
each has been taught during the previous quarter, and whether by 
male or female teachers; the number of scholars, and the time of their 
attendance during the quarter, to be ascertained by the teachers' 
keeping an exact list or roll of the scholars' names; the number present 
every school-time or half day, which roll or list shall be sworn to or 
afiirmed by the teacher, and shall accompany the trustees' report. 

8. The school inspectors shall quarterly apportion the said school 
moneys among the several districts in the said township according 
to the number of scholars in school therein, between the ages of five 
and twenty-one years; and also, according to the time that each 
scholar has actually attended such school during the previous quarter, 
to be ascertained by the report of the said trustees and teachers. 

9. Whenever the said apportionment shall have been made, the 
school inspectors shall make out a schedule thereof, setting forth the 
amount due to each district, the person or persons entitled to receive 
the same, and shall deliver the said schedule, together with the 
reports of the trustees, and the lists or the rolls of the teachers, to the 
commissioner of school lands, and thereupon the said commissioner 
shall pay over such parts of the interest of the school moneys belong- 
ing to the said township, as the said inspectors, in said schedule, may 
direct. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of school lands, in 
Cook County, to preserve all of the schedules, reports and teachers' 



EARLY LAWS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 437 

rolls, that may be delivered to him as aforesaid, and to make a record 
thereof in a book to be kept by him for that purpose, and he shall 
annually make and transmit to the Auditor of the State, a report, 
which shall set forth the various items contained in the trustees' 
reports and teachers' rolls, and such other information concerning the 
schools in the said township, as he may have in his possession, together 
with a particular account of all of the school moneys by him paid out, 
and such other matters as he may see fit to add. 

10. It shaU be the duty of the inspectors, semi-annually, to 
make a report, setting forth the state and condition of the schools 
in the said township, and cause the same to be published in one or 
more of the newspapers printed in the township: Provided, nothing 
in this act shall be so construed as to authorize the school commis- 
sioner of Cook County to pay to said trustees any part of the principal 
belonging to said township. 

This act to be in force from and after its passage. 
Approved, February 6, 1835. 

(4) Extracts from '^ An Act to Establish and Maintain a System 
of Free Schools {in force February 15, 18 §5) 

45. A majority of said directors shall constitute a quorum to do 

business They shall establish a sufficient number of common 

schools for the education of every individual person over the age of 
five and under twenty-one years, in their respective districts; and 
shall make the necessary provision for continumg such schools in 
operation for at least six months in each year, and longer if 
practicable 

67. The common school fund of this state shall consist of such 
sum as wiU be produced by the annual levy and assessment of two 
miUs upon each dollar's valuation of all the taxable property in the 
state, and there is hereby levied and assessed annually, in addition 
to the revenue for state purposes, the said two mills upon each 
dollar's valuation of all the taxable property in the state, to be col- 
lected and paid into the state treasury as other revenue is collected 
and paid; and the amount due from the state, according to a state- 
ment and settlement of the account between the state and that fund, 
under the provisions of an act entitled an "Act to provide for the 
distribution and application of the interest on the school, college and 



438 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

seminary fund," approved on the seventh of February 1835, and of 
all funds which have been or may be received by the state from the 
United States, for the use and support of common schools, and also 
of the money added to the common school fund which was received 
from the United States under an act of congress providing for a dis- 
tribution of the surplus revenue of the United States 

70. At each meeting in October, or at any subsequent meeting 
thereafter, before the first of May, annually, each township board 
of trustees in this state shall determine, by estimate, as nearly as 
practicable, the entire amount of money necessary to be expended 
in the township to keep in good condition and operation a sufficient 
number of free schools for the accommodation of all the children in 
said township during the ensuing year, over and above the available 
means arising from the township fund, or from other sources, and 
applicable to general school purposes, and also such additional 
amount as the board may think necessary for the exclusive purpose 
of supplying any deficiency in the fund for the payment of teachers, 
and for the purpose of extending the terms of schools after the state 
or common school fund shall have been exhausted; and shall deter- 
mine, as nearly as practicable, what rate per cent, on the one hundred 
dollars' valuation of all the taxable property in the township, each 
of said amounts separately, wiU require to be levied. 

(5) Extracts from ''An Act to Secure to All Children the Benefit 
of an Elementary Education^' {in force July i, i88j) 
[The first compulsory education law in Illinois.] 
I . Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in 
the General Assembly: That every person having the control and 
charge of any child or children, between the ages of eight and four- 
teen years, shall send such child or children to a public or private 
school for a period of not less than twelve weeks in each school year, 
unless such child or children are excused from attending school by 
the board of education, or school directors of the city, town, or school 
district in which such child or children reside. Such excuse may be 
given by said board of education or school directors for any good 
cause shown why said child or children shall not be required to attend 
school in conformity with this act. 



EARLY LAWS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 439 

2. It shall be a good defense to any suit brought under this act, 
if the person under whose control such child or children are, can show- 
that the mental or bodily condition of such child or children is such 
as to prevent its attendance at school or application to study for 
the period required by this act, or, that such child or children have 
been taught in a private school, or at home for the time specified in 
this act, in such branches as are ordinarily taught in primary or other 
schools, or have acquired the branches of learning ordinarily taught 
in public schools, or that no public school has been taught within two 
miles, by the nearest traveled road, of the residence of such child or 
children, within the school district in which said child or children 
reside, for twelve weeks during the year. 

3. If any person having the control and charge of any child or 
children shall fail or neglect to comply with the provisions of this 
act, said person shall pay a fine of not less than five nor more than 
twenty dollars. Suit for the recovery of the fine and costs shall be 
brought by any director, or member of any board of education, of the 
district in which such person resided at the time of the committal of 
the offense, before any justice of the peace of said township. Juris- 
diction is hereby conferred on all justices of the peace in this State 
for enforcing this act. Such fine shall be paid, when collected, to the 
school treasurer of said township, to be accounted for by him as 
other school money raised for school purposes. 

4. It is hereby made the duty of school directors and members of 
the boards of education to prosecute offenses occurring under this 
act. The neglect so to prosecute by any school director, or member 
of any board of education, within twenty days after written notice 
has been served on such director, or member of such board of edu- 
cation, by any tax payer residing in such district, that any person 
has violated this act, shall subject him or them to a fine of ten dollars, 
to be sued for by any tax payer residing in the school district where 
the violation of this act occurred, before any justice of the peace in 
the township where the said school district may be located; and when 
such fine is collected it shall be reported by said treasurer, and 
accounted for as other money raised for school purposes, and become 
a part of the school fund of said township. 

Approved, June 23, 1883. 



APPENDIX V 

TABLE SHOWING IN PARALLEL COLUMNS THE DEVELOPMENT 

OF THE COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND CHILD LABOR 

LAWS OF ILLINOIS, 1870-1916 

Compulsory Education Child Labor 

1872 An Act providing for the 
health and safety of per- 
sons employed in coal 
mines. 

Age and occupation. — Em- 
ployment of child under 
14 in mines forbidden. 

Enforcement. — Coimty sur- 
veyor ex-officio mine in- 
spector. 
1877 An Act to amend act of 1872. 

Age and occupation. — Em- 
ployment of child under 12 
in mine forbidden. 

Enforcement. — County board 
to appoint competent in- 
spectors. 
1877 An Act to prevent and punish 
wrongs to children. 

Age and occupation. — Em- 
ployment of child under 
14 in occupation dangerous 
to morality, health, or life 
forbidden. Child so en- 
gaged may be taken into 
custody of court. 

Enforcement. — No provision. 

440 



EDUCATION AND CHILD LABOR LAWS 



441 



Compulsory Education 



1883 An Act to secure to children 
the benefit of an ele- 
mentary education. 

Age limits. — 8 to 14. 

Period of attendance. — 1 2 
weeks annually. 

Exemptions. — M e n t a 1 or 
physical inability; com- 
pletion of required course; 
instruction at home or in 
private school; distance of 
two miles from public 
school. 

Enforcement. — School direc- 
tors and boards of educa- 
tion to prosecute offenders. 
Penalty, a fine of $5 to $20. 



Child Labor 

1879 An Act providing for the 
health and safety of per- 
sons employed in coal 
mines. 

Age and occupation. — Em- 
ployment of child under 1 2 
or illiterate boy under 14 
forbidden. Certain occu- 
pations forbidden under 18. 

Enforcement. — County board 
to appoint inspectors. 
1883 An Act to amend act of 1879. 

Age and occupation. — Em- 
ployment of child under 14 
in mine forbidden. 

Enforcememt. — Governor to 
appoint competent in- 
spectors. 



An Act to amend act of 1879 
and amendatory act of 
1883. 

Age and occupation. — Em- 
ployment of child under 14 
in mine forbidden. 

Parent to make age affidavit. 

Enforcement. — State inspect- 



An Act concerning the edu- 
cation of children. 



442 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



Compulsory Education 

Age limits. — 7 to 14. 

Period of attendance. — 16 
weeks annually, at least 10 
to be consecutive, at school 
giving prescribed instruc- 
tion in English. 

Exemption. — Mental or phys- 
ical inability; completion 
of course of study; in- 
struction at home or in 
approved private school. 

Enforcement. — Board of Edu- 
cation to appoint truant 
ofl&cers to apprehend chil- 
dren and to prosecute par- 
ents. Penalty prescribed 
for not securing attendance 
of child and for misstate- 
ment concerning age of 
child. 



Child Labor 



1893 An Act concerning the edu- 
cation of children. 

Age limits. — 7 to 14. 

Period of attendance. — 16 
weeks annually, at least 1 2 
to be consecutive, at public 
or private day school. 



1893- 



An Act to prevent child labor. 

Age and occupation. — Em- 
ployment of child under 13 
in any store, shop, factory, 
or manufacturing estab- 
lisment, forbidden; em- 
ployed child must have 
school certificate. 

Exemption. — If earnings are 
required to support aged 
or infirm relative. 

Enforcement. — No provision. 
-An Act to regulate the manu- 
facture of clothing, wearing 
apparel, and other articles 
in this state, and to pro- 
vide for the appointment 
of state inspectors to en- 
force the same, and to 



EDUCATION AND CHILD LABOR LAWS 



443 



Compulsory Education 

Exemption. — Physical or men- 
tal inability; instruction 
elsewhere; excused for suf- 
ficient reason by com- 
petent court of record. 

Enforcement. — Board of Edu- 
cation may appoint truant 
officers as in 1889. One 
member of board to be 
appointed to hear reasons 
for non-attendance. 



1897 An Act to promote attend- 
ance of children in schools 
and to prevent truancy. 

Age limits. — 7 to 14. 

Period of attendance. — 16 
weeks annually, 12 to be 
consecutive, at public or 
private day school. Term 
for children under 10 to 
commence with school 
year; for children over 
10 not later than Decem- 
ber I. 

Exemptions. — Mental or 

physical inability; in- 
struction elsewhere; ex- 
cused for sufficient reason 
by competent court of 
record. 

Enforcement. — Board of Edu- 
cation to appoint truant 
officers as in 1880. 



Child Labor 

make an appropriation 
therefor. 

Age and occupation. — Em- 
ployment of child under 
14 in manufacturing estab- 
lishment, factory, or work- 
shop forbidden. Parent to 
make age affidavit for 
employed child between 
14 and 16. Certificate of 
physical fitness may be 
required. 

Duty of employer. — Must 
keep register of all em- 
ployees under 16. 

Enforcement. — State factory 
inspectors. 
1897 An Act to regulate the em- 
ployment of children in the 
state of Illinois and to pro- 
vide for the enforcement 
thereof. 

Age and occupation. — No 
child under 14 to work for 
wages. Extra hazardous 
employment forbidden for 
children under 16. Age 
affidavits required. Pres- 
ence of child under 16 in 
work place prima facie evi- 
dence of employment. 

Hours of labor. — No child 
under 16 to work more 
than 10 hours a day, 60 
hours a week. 

Duty of employer. — Must 
keep register of all em- 
ployees under 16. 



444 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



Compulsory Education 



1899 An Act to enable boards of 
education or boards of 
school trustees to estab- 
lish and maintain parental 
or truant schools. 

Establishment. — Mandatory 
within two years in cities 
of 100,000 or over; in 
cities of 25,000 to 100,000 
at any time by majority 
vote. No school to be at or 
near any penal institution. 

Commitment. — Child guilty 
of truancy or habitual 
violation of school rules 
may be committed by 
court, to be kept till 14, 
unless previously convicted 
of offense punishable by 
confinement in penal insti- 
tution. 

Parole. — To be granted if 
record is satisfactory. 
Child who violates parole 
to be returned to Parental 
School, and not to be 
paroled again for specified 
term. Principal of school 
attended by paroled child 
must report each month 
to Parental School. 

Miscellaneous. — Incorrigible 
child may be transferred 
to reformatory. Parents to 
supply clothing. Rules of 
management in general 
same as for public schools. 



Child Labor 

Enforcement. — State factory 
inspectors. 

An Act to revise the laws in 
relation to coal mines and 
subjects relating thereto 
and providing for the 
health and safety of per- 
sons employed therein. 

(Child labor provisions same 
as in act of 1887.) 



EDUCATION AND CHILD LABOR LAWS 



445 



1903 



Compulsory Education 
An Act to amend the act of 

1897. 
Age limits. — 7 to 14. 
Period of attendance. — Public 

or private day school, for 

entire session; not less 

than no days of actual 

teaching. 
Exemptions. — Same as in act 

of 1897. 
Enforcement. — Same as in act 

of 1897. 



Child Labor 

1903 An Act to regulate the em- 
ployment of children in the 
State of Illinois, and to pro- 
vide for the enforcement 
thereof. 

Age and occupation. — Em- 
ployment of all children 
under 14, and of children 
between 14 and 16 at 
specified dangerous trades 
forbidden. Girls 14 to 16 
not to do work requiring 
constant standing; chil- 
dren 14 to 16 must have age 
and school certificates; if 
illiterate must attend eve- 
ning school. Presence of 
child under 16 in work 
place prima facie evidence 
of employment. 

Hours of labor. — Children 
under 16 not to work more 
than 8 hours a day, 48 
hours a week. Night 
work forbidden. 

Diity of employer. — Must 
keep register of all em- 
ployees under 16. 

Enforcement. — State factory 
inspectors. 
1905 An Act to amend act of 1899. 

Age and occupation. — Child 
under 16 not to work in 
any mine. Parent to 
make age affidavit. 

Enforcement. — State mine in- 
spectors. 



1907 An Act to amend act of 1897 
as amended in 1903. 



446 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



1909 



CoMPiTLSORY Education 

Age limits. — 7 to 16. 

Period of attendance. Same 
as in act of 1903. 

Exemptions. — Mental or 
physical inability; instruc- 
tion elsewhere; excused 
temporarily for cause by 
teachers; between 14 and 
16 excused if necessarily 
and lawfully employed. 

Enforcement. — Same as in act 
of 1903. 

An Act to establish and main- 
tain a system of free 
schools (Sees. 274, 275). 

Age limits. — 7 to 16. 

Period of attendance. — Public 
or private school for entire 
session; not less than six 
months of actual teaching. 

Exemptions. — Same as in act 
of 1907. 

Enforcement. — Same as in act 
of 1907. 



Child Labor 



19 II An Act to revise the laws in 
relation to coal mines and 
subjects relating thereto, 
and providing for the 
health and safety of per- 
sons employed therein. 
(Child labor provisions same 
as in act of 1905.) 



APPENDIX VI 

A NOTE' ON STATISTICS RELATING TO SCHOOL ATTEND- 
ANCE IN CHICAGO 

Consideration of the problem of truancy necessarily involves a 
study of statistics of school attendance and enrolment. Exact 
information on these points, however, is difficult to obtain. To 
answer with any degree of precision the questions that arise as 
to enrolment in the Chicago schools, irregularity of attendance, 
distribution of children between public and private schools, and like 
problems, it is necessary to study the Proceedings and Annual 
Reports of the Board of Education, the Biennial School Census, and 
the Official Catholic Directory. The first two deal with the public 
schools only, and give figures which are practically the same, those 
in the Reports being derived from those in the Proceedings. The 
School Census figures, which differ considerably from those in the 
Reports of the Board of Education, are for both public and private 
schools; but for the most important group of private institutions, 
the Catholic parochial schools, the Official Catholic Directory is our 
only source of information. 

Even with so many sets of facts at hand, it is impossible to ascer- 
tain exactly the number of school children in Chicago. Turning first 
to the public schools, we find that the Proceedings of the Board of 
Education give us, during the seventeen years studied, tables of total 
enrolment, average daily membership, average daily attendance, and 
total membership. There are also tables of membership in the 
separate departments of the school system, and, after 1900, in the 
schools for defectives, the Parental School, and the John Worthy 
School. All these tables are given for each month of the school 
year. Our interest centers, however, in the tables of monthly 

^ For this note we are indebted to Natalie Walker, research student, 
1914-15, and to Fanny R. Sweeny (now Mrs. Wickes), research student, 
1911-12. 

447 



448 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

enrolment and membership for the whole system, their meaning and 
the relations between them. 

Each year, as Table I shows, the enrolment — that is, the number 
of children who have been registered at any time during the year — 
increases noticeably from September to June. This gain is so great 

TABLE I 

Total Enrolment in Chicago Public Schools for Months of Sep- 
tember AND June, with Excess of June over September, for 
the School Years 1897-98 to 1913-14* 



Year 


Enrolment 


Excess of June 


September 


June 


OVER September 


1897-98 


208,574 
215,682 
222,739 
229,890 
234,593 
239,331 
246,597 
251,067 

254,379 
255,798 
255,212 
260,331 
261,683 
265,552 
268,595 

274,533 
286,492 


236,239 
242,807 
255,861 
262,738 
268,392 
274,247 
279,183 
282,346 
287,113 
286,766 
292,580 
296,427 
301,172 
304,146 
307,281 
315,737 
332,248 


27,665 
27,125 

33,122 

32,848 

33,799 
34,916 
32,586 
31,279 
32,734 
30,968 
37,368 
36,096 
39,489 
38,594 
38,686 


1898-99 


1899— 1900 


1900— lOOI 


IQOI— 2 


1002— X 


IQO^— A 


1004.— 5 


100=;— 6 


1006— 7 


IQ07- 8 


1908- 9 

1909-10 

1910— II 


1911— 12 


1912-13 

1913-14 


41,204 
45,756 



* Data from monthly tables in the Proceedings of the Chicago Board of Education. 



that it raises a question as to whether it can represent so great an 
actual increase in the number of children attending school, especially 
since the number drops again the following September. Some of the 
difference is, of course, due merely to later entrance. Other possible 
causes of increase are the entrance of children reaching seven years 
of age, and the entrance of those coming from private schools and 
from other cities. This, however, could hardly account for so great 
a gain, especially as there are counterbalancing losses constantly 



SCHOOL ATTENDANCE STATISTICS 



449 



going on, when children leave school at the upper age limit, change 
to private schools, or move to other cities. It seems probable, there- 
fore, that much of this gain is due to duplicate enrolment, that is, the 
registration in the books of both schools of children who have been 
transferred from one public school to another. As to this, however, 
we can only guess since there is no separate enumeration of transfers 
and readmissions. 

The supposition that duplicate enrolment may be an explanation 
for the great increase in the figures from September to June is sup- 
ported by a study of the tables of monthly membership, that is, the 
number of children who are in fairly regular attendance at school. 
Table II shows that not only is the smallest enrolment (September) 

TABLE II 

Comparison of Largest Monthly Membership in Chicago Public 
Schools with Smallest Monthly Enrolment (September), 
anb Decrease in Membership from September to June, 
for the School Years 1897-98 to 1913-14* 



Year 


Months in Which 

Membership Was 

Largest 


Surplus of Sep- 
tember Enrolment 
over Largest 

Monthly 
Membership 


Decrease in 

Membership from 

September to 

June 


1897-98 


October 

November 

October 

October 

October 

October 

October 

November 

September 

September 

October 

November 

September 

September 

September 

October 

September 


4,937 

4,471 

5,622 

4,638 

5,132 

6,170 

5,988 

6,047 

7,08s 

7,061 1 

6,660 

8,288 

8,605 

8,109 

8,398 

8,221 

8,283 


9,898 

14,727 

8,467 

11,897 

11,178 

12,277 

6,952 

9,729 

11,396 

14,256 

6,242 

8,568 

8,684 

11,525 

7,776 

7,988 

4,490 


1898-99 


1899-1900 

1900— 1901 


1901- 2 

IQ02- -i 


1903- 4 

1904- 5 


1905- 6 


1906- 7 

1907- 8 


1908- 9 


1909-10 


1910-11 


1911-12 


1012-1^ 


1913-14 





* Based on monthly tables of enrohnent and membership in Proceedings of the Chicago 
Board of Education. 

t Membership for April larger, but obviously a misprint. 



450 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

invariably considerably larger than the largest monthly membership, 
but that, though the enrolment increases steadily from September to 
June, the membership decreases. This falling off in membership can 
scarcely be attributed to transfers, as in that case the gains would 
offset the losses. It may, however, be due to an excess of losses 
over gains from private schools and other cities; to the excess of those 
leaving school when they become fourteen over those entering when 
they become seven; to illness or incapacity; to truancy, working 
under age, or other illegal absence. How the losses apportion them- 
selves among these possible causes cannot be determined. 

If, then, we are asked, "How many children are there in the 
public schools ? " we have a considerable range of numbers from which 
to select a reply. It may be that the largest membership will come 
nearest to showing the number of children actually in school. If, 
however, we prefer the enrolment figures, we are at a loss to know 
which to select. It would seem that September or October would 
probably contain the smallest number of duplications; but, on the 
other hand, the Board of Education gives the June enrolment as the 
number of children for the year, and it is possible, and in some cases 
certain, that other cities also report the largest enrolment as the 
number for the year. The School Census gives us still another set 
of totals. In 1904 the number of children attending the public 
schools as given in the School Census corresponds most nearly to that 
given in the Proceedings as the September enrolment. In 1906 the 
census number lies between the membership for September and that 
for October, and is considerably less than the September enrolment. 
In 1908, however, it is nearest to the October enrolment, and in 
1910 it lies between the enrolments for February and for March. 
For 191 2 the census figure is considerably larger than the June enrol- 
ment, but in 1914, though the census was taken in May, the total 
number of children recorded as attending the public schools corre- 
sponds exactly to the June enrolment. This coincidence is even more 
startling when we recall the fact that the census supposedly includes 
in its total not only the children in public schools, but also the large 
number who are enrolled in private schools. 

The School Census figures are obviously useless for checking those 
given in the Proceedings and Reports of the Board of Education. Not 



SCHOOL ATTENDANCE STATISTICS 



451 



only do the totals vary greatly, but the figures are given in the Pro- 
ceedings by school divisions and by age at the time of first enrolment, 
and in the census by age at the time of enumeration. Comparison 
between the two sets of figures is impossible. Furthermore, as the 
age grouping changes considerably, the census figures from year to 
year are not readily comparable with each other. 

Returning to a consideration of the numbers of children in the 
schools, we find that, if the School Census returns are unsatisfactory 
for comparison with those given by the Board of Education, they 
are equally so for comparison with those for the Catholic parochial 
schools. No census taken after 1900 makes any distinction between 
these schools and other private schools, and censuses taken before 
1900 give figures of doubtful accuracy. In order to study the num- 
bers in this most important group of private schools it was therefore 
necessary to turn to the Official Catholic Directory, and Table III 

TABLE III 

Statistics of Enrolment of Catholic Parochial Schools of Chicago 
FOR THE School Years 1897-98 to 1913-14* f 



Year 



Given Total 



Computed Total 



All Schools 



Minus High Schools 
Named 



1897-98. . . 
1899-1900. 

I9OI- 2 . . . 

1903- 4. . . 

1904- 5 . . . 

1905- 6. . . 

1906- 7 . . . 

1907- 8. . . 

1908- 9. . . 
1909-10. . . 
1910-11 . . . 
1911-12. . . 
1912-13. . . 
1913-14. . . 



68,004 
68,004 
68,004 
68,520 
78,200 
81,680 

82,975 
90,500 

94,315 
95, no 



44,893 
50,301 
57,419 
65,438 
68,432 
72,351 

X 
76,532 
79,861 

84,694 

86,055 
88,709 
90,834 
94,520 



64,463 

69,611 



73,707 
77,491 

82,084 

83,188 
87,249 
89,941 
93,284 



*Excluding 1898-99, 1900-1901, 1902-3. 

fBased on figures in Official Catholic Directory for years cited. 

JFigures for separate schools not found. 



452 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

presents statistics of enrolment for the Catholic parochial schools of 
Chicago for a series of years. Before 1905 the enrolment is given 
biennially for each school, and from these data, totals for the city 
were computed. For 1905, however, and for every year thereafter, a 
total for the city is given. For several years, however, these totals 
are almost certainly inaccurate, as the figures for 1905, 1906, and 1907 
are exactly the same, and 1908, as Table III shows, makes only a very 
slight change. This inaccuracy, together with some uncertainty as 
to what is included in the given total, as well as the fact that the 
totals prior to 1905 were of necessity computed, made it seem best, 
in dealing with the parochial schools, to use the computed grand total, 
including, so far as we know, all schools, grades, and ages. 

There is general agreement among the parochial school teachers 
that the reports sent to the Directory are based on enrolment at the 
end of the school year, and comparison may therefore fairly be made 
between the June enrolment for the public schools, and the com- 
puted totals for the parochial schools. This comparison has been 
made in Table IV, which shows a steady gain in numbers for the 
parochial as well as for the public schools. Though the transfers 
between public and private schools may fairly be assumed to cancel 
each other in the course of a year, it is most probable that the Catholic 
school figures, like those for the public schools, contain many dupli- 
cations. For this reason the sum of the two enrolments would 
probably be somewhat greater than the actual number registered in 
the schools. 

The steady gain in the Catholic school enrolment is even more 
apparent in Table V, which shows, in so far as it can be ascertained, 
the distribution of school children between the two systems.^ It 
will be observed that from 1897 to 1904, we have figures for alternate 
years only. Comparable parochial school figures for the other years 

' In making this computation we have asstraied that the number of 
pupils enrolled in all schools equals the total for the public schools (June 
enrolment) plus the computed totals for the Catholic parochial schools. To 
this was added 4 per cent of the combined total to represent the other 
private schools. We find that when the census gives figures for these 
schools, as in 1898 and 1900, the number practically equals this 4 per 
cent of the combined total. In the absence of information to the contrary, 
we have assumed this proportion to be constant. 



SCHOOL ATTENDANCE STATISTICS 



453 



are lacking. After 1904 the figures are, with one exception, given for 
every year. It is obvious that, while both the Catholic and the public 
schools show a marked gain in actual numbers, the proportion of 
children in the Catholic schools is increasing rapidly at the expense 
of the public schools, which show a relatively decreasing enrolment. 

TABLE IV 

Comparison of Numbers Enrolled in Public and 

Catholic Parochial Schools of Chicago 

FOR THE School Years 1897-98 to 

1913-14 



Year 


June Enrolment 
Public Schools 


Computed Total 

Catholic Parochial 

Schools 


1897-98 


236,239 
242,807 
255,861 
262,783 
268,392 

274,247 
279,183 
282,346 
287,113 
286,766 
292,581 
296,427 
301,172 
304,146 
307,281 
315,737 
332,248 


44,893 
* 


1898—99 


1899-1900 

1900— I 


50,001 


I9OI— 2 


57,149 
* 

65,438 
68,423 
72,351 

t 
76,532 
79,861 
84,694 
86,055 
88,709 
90,834 
94,520 


1902- 3 

IQO^- 4. 


1904- 5 

iQo=;- 6 


1906- 7 


1Q07— 8 


1908- 9 

IQOQ— 10 


igio-ii 


1911-12 


1912-13 

1913-14 



*ComparabIe figures not given. 
fFigures for separate schools not found. 



From this cursory attempt to answer some of the most frequently 
recurring questions as to school attendance, it is evident that the 
information available is most unsatisfactory. The difficulty seems, 
in general, to be due rather to a careless presentation of material 
than to lack of facts. The exception to this is, of course, the matter 
of duplicate enrolment. Account should be kept not only of trans- 
fers between public schools, and from public to private schools, but 



454 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



also of readmissions to the public schools. If these facts were 
properly recorded, it would be possible to tell, from year to year, 
exactly how many children were enrolled in the city schools. This 
number would agree, approximately, with the total membership of 
the schools, and we should not be called upon annually, as we are now, 
to explain the problem of a steadily increasing enrolment and a 
steadily decreasing membership. 

TABLE V 

Distribution of Children in Chicago Schools 

BETWEEN Public and Catholic Parochial 

Schools 





Number per 1,000 School Children 


Year* 


Public Schools 


Catholic Parochial 
Schools 


i8q7-q8 


809 
803 
792 
778 

773 
768 
762 
7SS 
750 
749 
746 
747 
749 


153 
157 
169 
182 


1899-1900 

1901— 2 


IQO'?— A 


IQ04.— ■; 


187 
183 
199 
204 
211 
212 


iQo=;— 6 


1007— 8 


1908— 9 


1909-10 

1910— II 


1911— 12 


215 
215 
213 


10X2—1^ 


I9I3-I4 



*As the enrolment for the separate Catholic schools was not 
given in 1906-7, it was impossible to compute the total enrolment, 
and was therefore necessary to omit from the table the figures for 
this year. 

The school census may be expected ultimately to furnish valuable 
attendance statistics but the statistical work should be more care- 
fully done than it has been in the past. All children of compulsory 
school age should be systematically and logically accounted for. It 
ought to be possible to ascertain from the school census the total 
number and the regularity of attendance of children enrolled in public, 
parochial, and other private schools. 



APPENDIX VII 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHICAGO BUREAU OF EMPLOY- 
MENT SUPERVISION 

Attention has been called to the helplessness of many children 
who take their working papers at fourteen. Most helpless of all, 
perhaps as a group, are the boys released from the Parental 
School because they have reached this age and under the law can 
no longer be held.^ Very few of these boys return to school. They 
were sent to the Parental School because they were in need of special 
training and care which their own homes and the day school could 
not give, and when they leave the Parental School they are in pecu- 
liar need of help. They are without jobs and they have no one at 
home able to find jobs for them. They are, in fact, in greater need 
of help than the majority of other children given working papers who 
have been in their own homes all the time and who are therefore 
more likely to be put in touch with opportunities for work. 

Because of the character of the homes from which these boys came 
and because of the helplessness of the boys themselves when they 
left the school, advantage was taken of the opportunity offered by this 
investigation to advise with them with reference to their choice of 
work, and to assist them to find work when they were unwilling or 
unable to return to the regular day school. The attempt was made 
to understand the problem of employment as they faced it, both 
because it would add to the results of the investigation and because a 
genuine service might be rendered to the children. A small employ- 
ment bureau for these boys was therefore organized in connection 
with the Department of Social Investigation at the Chicago School 
of Civics and Philanthropy in order to get directly from and with 
them the experience of finding and keeping "a job" in Chicago. 
This seemed relevant to an inquiry into the adequacy of the com- 

' It is not possible to obtain the number of these boys from the Reports 
of the Board of Education. There seem to have been 797 between 1902 and 
1913 (see Fifty-ninth Annual Report of the Chicago Board of Education, t^. 298). 

455 



456 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

pulsory education law, the effectiveness of the court as a device for 
strengthening the school, and the reasonableness of accepting "law- 
ful employment" as a substitute for schooling during these two 
important years of the child's life. 

To try to assist boys or girls in finding work is a task not to be 
lightly undertaken. It means not only a thoroughgoing investi- 
gation into opportunities of employment open to children under 
sixteen, but a careful study of the particular child. On the one hand, 
it means interviews with employers and foremen, and on the other, 
interviews with the child before he leaves school, with his teachers, 
and with parents in the home — interviews which give as complete 
information as can be gained of what the boy wants to do and thinks 
he can do, of what his teachers believe him to be fitted for physically 
and mentally, and most important of all, the judgment of his parents, 
their hopes and fears if they will share them, and such light as his 
home circumstances and relationships throw on the possibilities of 
his working career. This is, of course, only half the battle. There 
is also the selection, from among all of the available jobs that can be 
found, of the one to which the boy seems best adapted, and then fre- 
quently the difficult task of persuading the boy to give up being a 
messenger boy or some other wasteful occupation on which he may 
have set his heart, convincing the parents perhaps to take a lower 
wage at the start in a job which is going to mean learning as well as 
earning, and, finally, constant communication with the boy after he 
is placed; for watching the child after a job has been found is as 
important as finding the job. The temptation to leave one employer 
and " try another" is in the air. Boys give up their jobs on the most 
trivial pretexts and often without telling the employer they intend 
to leave. In such cases it is often possible to persuade the employer 
to give the boy another trial, to show the boy how much he may gain 
by working steadily for the same firm, and to explain to the parents 
the dangers of casual habits. The task is not a simple task. It 
involves often many interviews, much firm but gentle dealing with 
boy and parents, and close co-operation with employer; but it also 
means a knowledge of the chaos surrounding fourteen-year-old boys 
entering the wage-earning market unguarded and unguided — a 
knowledge which is worth all it costs. 



CHICAGO EMPLOYMENT SUPERVISION BUREAU 457 

The same problem presents itself to the fourteen-year-old girls 
who are leaving school to go to work, and the same method is of even 
greater value in the case of girls than of boys; because, few as are 
the opportunities of an industrially promising kind for boys, they 
are fewer for girls, since most employments for women today are in 
fact "blind-alley" or "dead end" employments. Moreover, the 
problem of school attendance for girls is one to which much less atten- 
tion has been given. The number of girls whose attendance is so 
irregular or whose conduct so bad as to call for action on the part of 
the Compulsory Education Department is almost negligible; and 
few of these are brought into the Juvenile Court. There is no 
Parental School for girls. We therefore had no opportunity to 
tmdertake in connection with our Juvenile Court inquiry the same 
investigational experiment for girls which we undertook for the 
Parental School boys. But by the co-operation of three women's 
organizations, the Chicago Woman's Club, the Chicago Association 
of Collegiate Alumnae, and the Woman's City Club, we were enabled 
to obtain at first for a period of four months and later, permanently, 
a special investigator who was peculiarly fitted for the work of 
investigating employment opportunities for girls. 

Toward the end of the school year, as the knowledge of trade 
conditions accumulated and the connection with good employers 
became gradually established, we were able to take care of a very 
considerable number of children sent to us by the settlements who 
knew of our experimental work, and by the United Charities and 
some other organizations. In particular, especially handicapped 
children were sent to us, a one-armed girl, a lame boy, a deaf and 
dumb girl, and undersized or delicate children who were in work that 
was too hard for them or unsuitable for other reasons. 

In the month of June we undertook to interview and to place all 
of the children in the Washburne School, one of the largest schools on 
the West Side, who were planning to go to work at the end of the 
school year. Office hours were kept in a neighboring settlement, 
the Henry Booth House, which generously offered space, and 
the school principal was glad to co-operate by sending the 
children to us and by giving his personal advice. In addition to 
interviews with the children, visits to all the homes were made, and 



458 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

when the parents seemed able to keep the child in school longer, they 
were strongly urged to do so. 

At this early period in our experiment, the work received a cer- 
tain official sanction from the educational authorities. The data 
gathered by the investigator' were placed at the disposal of the prin- 
cipal of the Lucy Flower Technical High School, which was opened 
in September 191 1, so that various questions connected with the cur- 
riculum of that school could be determined with reference to trade 
opportunities for girls. At the request of Mrs. Young, superinten- 
dent of schools, office hours were held in the school building in 
order to advise the girls taking technical training with reference 
to their selection of a trade and their placement at the end of their 
course. 

After the close of the first year, the work was continued under 
the Joint Committee, supported by the various woman's clubs of 
Chicago. The Chicago Women's Aid Society undertook the support 
of a worker who would handle the cases of Jewish children, and the 
Joint Committee entered upon a policy of raising so-called scholar- 
ships for children who were wholly unfit to be placed and whose 
family needs were too great to allow of their remaining longer in 
school without aid. 

On January 12, 191 2, through the interest and co-operation of 
Miss Addams, the Hull-House Trade School was opened. On May 
15 the Joint Committee undertook to pay the salary of another 
visitor, and in October of that year the Association of Commerce 
undertook the support of a worker. From that time until February, 
1916, the staff consisted of four persons, the director and three 
other "visitors" working under her supervision. In March, 1913, 
the Board of Education recognized the work more definitely by 
allotting office space in the Jones School, near the headquarters of 
the Certificate Issuing Bureau, by providing clerical assistance and 
telephone service, and by placing the work under the general super- 
vision of one of the district superintendents. On May i, 1913, 

'To this investigator, Miss Anne S. Davis, research student 1907-8 
and 1908-9, we are greatly indebted for assistance of many kinds. Miss 
Davis is now at the head of the Bureau of Vocational Supervision in the 
Chicago Public Schools. 



CHICAGO EMPLOYMENT SUPERVISION BUREAU 459 

he issued the following circular (Series III, No. 18) regarding the 
Bureau and its work: 

Department of Vocational Supervision 
A. establishment of the bureau 

The work of the Bureau of Vocational Supervision which has been 
established in a number of the Chicago Schools is an enlargement of the 
work which has been carried on for the last two years at the Lucy Flower 
Technical High School through a general office maintained by a number of 
private organizations. A central office has been established in the rooms of 
the Board of Education, and office hours are held in a number of schools in 
which it seems the workers might be of service in advising children. 

The Bureau for two years has been making a special study of the indus- 
trial opportunities open to boys and girls who are leaving school to go to 
work. As a result of this study it is obvious that there is little prospect for 
the child who leaves school at fourteen, and that there is a great need for 
continued education and training. With this fund of information concern- 
ing conditions of employment the Bureau is prepared to interview children 
and parents and advise them with regard to the most suitable occupations 
and further educational courses. 

B. aim of the bureau 

1. To encourage boys and girls to remain and to continue their edu- 
cation after leaving the Elementary School. 

2. To refrain from suggesting to the child the possibihties of going to 
work before it is absolutely necessary. 

3. In case a child cannot be persuaded to continue in school, to see 
that the children enter as far as possible the trades or occupations for which 
they seem best fitted. 

4. To suggest to those children who enter unskilled employment to 
attend Evening Schools and classes to qualify themselves to undertake 
other work of a more skilled nature. 

5. To keep in touch with children who have been interviewed and advise 
them after they have been placed, whether again in school or at work. 

c. co-operation of the principals 

The Bureau is anxious to render effective and efficient service to the 
Principals and to supplement and extend their work in advising the children 
who contemplate leaving school to go to work. 



46o TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

To the knowledge which the Principals and teachers possess of the 
child's educational qualifications, his inclinations, and perhaps his physical 
condition, the Bureau wishes to add its information as to opportunities 
open to children of this age, and its corps of trained workers who visit the 
homes, consult with the parents, and make suggestions as to the child's 
possibilities and future. 

A number of children, to whom age and school certificates had already 
been issued, have been returned to school after such consultations. The 
Bureau feels that a great deal more could be done if these children and 
parents were interviewed before certificates are granted. It is hoped that 
so far as possible the Principals will send children to the workers before 
giving them their certificates. 

W. M. Roberts, District Superintendent 
Approved: 

Ella Flagg Young 
Superintendent of Schools 

In March, 1914, there was published for the use of the schools 
a report prepared by the director of the Bureau on Occupations and 
Industries open to Children between Fourteen and Sixteen Years of Age 
in Chicago, and during that year Mrs. Young recommended that the 
Board of Education assume the entire support of the Bureau and, 
in anticipation of such action, asked the vi^orkers in the Bureau to 
qualify for public service by taking an examination which entitled 
them to certificates as high-school teachers. The recommendation of 
the Superintendent was rejected at that time, and the work of the 
Bureau retained its peculiar semi-public semi-private character until 
March i, 1916, when in accordance with action taken January, 1916, 
the names of the three workers still connected with the Bureau who 
had taken the examination were transferred to the pubHc pay-roll. 

As the work has been from the beginning under the same direc- 
tor, it has developed uninterruptedly and without radical change of 
method. The work has been done principally in about twenty 
schools, where the principals have given cordial and sympathetic 
co-operation. One object always held in view is that of persuading 
all children whose family situation makes it possible for them to do 
so to remain in school. Consequently a considerable number of these 
children who come to the Bureau before going to work, even if they 
have been given their working papers, are persuaded to return to 



CHICAGO EMPLOYMENT SUPERVISION BUREAU 461 

school or to remain in school. It seems practically impossible to 
persuade children who come to the Bureau after having gone to 
work to return to school. In some schools a representative of the 
Bureau confers with each child expecting to graduate with reference 
to his plans. Advantage is then taken of the opportunity to make 
known to the chUd the advantages of going on to high school. In 
every case in which there is a possibility of the child's continuing 
his school life, the parents are visited and informed of the vocational 
and technical training now available for their children. 

In several schools, arrangements have been made for the vocational 
supervisor to conduct the graduating class to the different technical 
high schools, so that the children may have a better idea of the kinds 
of training offered. In a number of schools talks are given not only 
to the graduating class, but to the sixth and seventh grades, empha- 
sizing the need for further education and urging the children to remain 
in school until they are at least sixteen years of age. And principals 
of several of these schools have thought that the influence of the 
Bureau could be felt in the decreasing number of children who leave 
school and the increasing number who are going on to high school. 

During each summer, letters are written to parents whose children 
plan not to return, and interviews are had with them explaining the 
seasonal and wasteful character of boy and girl labor and the advan- 
tage of keeping the children in school until they are at least sixteen 
years of age. In the same way, before the time at which promotions 
are made, when children are likely to drop out, the principals of all 
the schools are reminded of the great loss resulting from failure to 
complete the course and are stimulated to urge the children to con- 
tinue in school. 

The numbers of children served by this small group of workers 
has been very considerable. During the year 1914-15, the last for 
which complete figures are at hand, 3,568 children, of whom 1,809 
were boys and 1,759 were girls, were helped by the Bureau. Of 
these, 3,519 children had never worked, and 640 were persuaded to 
remain in school or to return to school. How important this part 
of the Bureau's work is may be indicated to some extent by the fact 
that 1,349 children had gone no farther than the sixth grade in 
school. 



462 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

From the nature of the problem presented by these children, it is 
evident that the Bureau offers the opportunity for very careful and 
thorough personal service, on which not only the industrial future 
of the children but the well-being of the family may depend. The 
results of such service may be illustrated by the case of Stanley 

, who came to the Bureau shortly after it began to care for 

other than Parental School boys. Stanley was sixteen years old 
when he first came to the Bureau and was the next to the oldest in 
a family of six children. His brother of nineteen had left school at 
the earliest possible moment, had drifted from one job to another, 
and had become a casual laborer. His father, too, worked spas- 
modically, had never learned a trade, nor been taught to do anything 
weU. The boy was working in a box factory carrying boards, and 
earned six dollars a week. He was sent to the Bureau by the United 
Charities, who had been assisting the family from time to time, to 
see if he could be placed where he would learn something, so that he 
would not follow in the footsteps of his father and brother. He had 
graduated from the eighth grade, was found to be eager and ambitious, 
and wanted to learn the printing trade. A place was found for him 
with a good printing firm at an initial wage of five dollars a week. 
He has been in this same shop over three years now, and is earning 
fourteen dollars a week. A year later he sent to the Bureau his 
brother Joseph, who had just left school at the age of fourteen, having 
finished the seventh grade. Joseph came to the Bureau for work, 
but he was encouraged to return to complete the eighth grade. 
A year later he applied for work. He, too, thought that he would 
like to learn the printing trade. He was told that he could not be 
placed in a printing shop until he was sixteen, but a temporary posi- 
tion was found for him in an office. When he reached his sixteenth 
birthday, he was transferred to a printing shop where he began 
work at a wage of five dollars a week, and has had his wages raised 
several times. Both bo}^s have attended one of the technical evening 
schools. 

These boys, because they were given a little advice and assistance, 
are not only learning a trade and are happy in the work they are 
doing, but they are able to support their family, which is no longer 
a burden to the community. 



CHICAGO EMPLOYMENT SUPERVISION BUREAU 463 

In the matter of persuading children to return to school some- 
times only a httle effort is necessary. Often "the lady in the down- 
town office" to whom the principals send the children can do what 
the principals themselves cannot do. But sometimes a great deal of 
effort is necessary; for example, a boy who applied for his working 
permit, was leaving school because several of his friends were working, 
and had offered to get him a job. At first he would not listen to any 
argument in favor of his staying in school. Finally it was discovered 
that he was interested in electrical work. He was told then that if 
he graduated he could go to a technical school and take an electrical 
course. So he decided to go back and finish the eighth grade. In 
the autumn, however, the boy appeared at the Bureau with his 
father. He had visions of not making his grade, and had decided 
that he might as well quit and go to work. He was again persuaded 
to go to school. In December, the mother was doubtful if she could 
send the boy to high school after graduation, since her husband had 
worked irregularly through the winter. But in February, when the 
boy was graduated, no further opposition was put in his way and he 
went on to a technical high school. 

Sometimes it is necessary to change the child from one school to 
another in order that he may receive the best training for a particular 
need. For instance, an unenlightened teacher advised a boy to 
leave school "because he had too much energy" and the boy came to 
the Bureau. Though he had completed only the seventh grade at 
fourteen, he was very bright, and it seemed too bad to turn him 
loose into some "blind alley" occupation. So he was advised to 
enter the prevocational class at a technical high school. There he 
found in working with his hands an outlet for his surplus energy, 
and had progressed so well in his academic studies that he went on 
with some high-school courses. 

Another child, a girl, who had not been able to keep up with her 
school work on account of sickness, had become discouraged and was 
about to leave school. Since she could go to school only two years 
longer, she needed to make the best of that time in getting practical 
training and was consequently sent to the Lucy Flower Technical School. 

Sometimes persuasion is all that is necessary to keep a child in 
school or to send him on to high school, but in other cases it is necessary 



464 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 

to provide books or clothes or a small scholarship. In interview- 
ing children who were graduating at the mid-year, it was found 
that a number of them could go to high school if books were provided. 
Children cannot depend upon getting books from school funds. One 
girl who entered high school was forced to dropout at the end of the first 
week and went to work in a factory because she could not secure 
"fund" books. In a single day six boys came to the Bureau who 
had entered high school but had to leave because they could not 
afford to buy books. In order to meet this need for school books 
the Bureau has established a loan-book fund which in one term 
enabled thirty children who otherwise would have been compelled 
to drop out to continue their high-school work. A free textbook 
law would of course obviate these difficulties. 

During the year 1914-15, sixty-eight children were kept in school 
by being given "scholarships," ranging in amount from 50 cents 
a week, or carfare, in some cases, to $3 . 00 a week in others. These 
"scholarships," which were provided by private subscription, have 
been given to the handicapped or physically weak children who are 
not able to work, yet would be compelled to do so if a scholarship 
were not provided; to the immigrant children who would have a 
better chance if they could go to school a while longer to acquire 
a better knowledge of English; to exceptionally bright children who 
are anxious to stay in school and who might make rapid progress if 
given an opportunity. 

For example, late in the summer a district superintendent sent 
to the Bureau a mother and her daughter who had inquired concern- 
ing a free business course. The girl was just fourteen. She had 
graduated from grammar school in June with a high average. The 
mother, a widow, who supported herself and her daughter, wanted 
to send the girl to high school, but found that she could not afford 
it, as she was working irregularly. She had heard of a business 
college which offered free instruction for six months, and she thought 
she might make a sacrifice for that short time. The girl was unusually 
ambitious, her teachers spoke well of her ability, and it seemed unfair 
that she should not have an opportunity. A scholarship of ten 
dollars a month was secured for the next two years, and the girl was 
enabled to enter the high school for the two-year commercial course. 



CHICAGO EMPLOYMENT SUPERVISION BUREAU 465 

Another girl of fourteen was sent to the Bureau for employment. 
Her mother did occasional washings, and one sister earned $7 . 50 a 
week. There were two other children in school. The child was 
undersized and pale looking. After a physical examination it was 
found that she had tubercular glands. She was given a scholarship 
of $10.00 a month and sent to the Franklin Open Air School, where 
she has made good progress. 

An immigrant girl of fourteen, whose father was dead, had 
reached the third grade in school, though she had been in this country 
only six months. She was bright and eager and was anxious to 
remain in school so that she might learn more English. A scholar- 
ship of $10. GO a month was provided so that she could finish the year 
in school. At the end of the term she was transferred to the Hull- 
House Trade School to learn dressmaking. 

In November, 1914, a girl of fourteen applied to the Bureau for 
work. She was valedictorian of her class which had graduated in 
June, and she had hoped that she might go to high school. But her 
father had met with an accident and could not work regularly, and 
there were five younger children to be supported. A scholarship of 
$8.00 a month was provided, which enabled her to go to high school. 
Though she was two months late in entering she made up her work, 
and her average for the first semester was over 95 per cent. 

The Bureau tries so far as possible to place the children to whom 
scholarships are given in schools and classes where they will receive 
practical training that will prepare them for some special line of work. 
Those in the high schools generally take the commercial or vocational 
courses. One has, however, been enrolled to take the general course 
in the hope of becoming a health officer, and another is determined to 
go to college. Experience with these children confirms the testimony 
which can be got from many sources that accepting "lawful employ- 
ment" as a substitute for school attendance means great loss to the 
children and to the community, to the children who are allowed to 
enter without preparation a labor market which has no real need for 
them, to the community which needs the labor of men and women 
of well-developed bodies and trained minds. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Absences: classification of causes of, 
128, 179; consecutive and ir- 
regular, 119-20. See also Non- 
attendance. 

Addams, Jane, 72, 458. 

Age-and-school certificates, 88, 296, 
318; Issuing Bureau for, 320, 458. 
See also Employment certificates. 

Agents, attendance, 57. See also 

Truant officers. 
Altgeld, Governor, 72, 73. 
Alton Glass Works, child labor in, 

416. 

Attendance. See School attendance. 

Bancroft, History of Constitution, 

quoted, 19. 
Bilingual schools. See Schools. 
Birth-registration, 289, 312. 
Blackstone, Commentaries, quoted, 6. 

Brace, C. L., Dangerous Classes in 
New York, quoted, 43. 

Bridewell, 203, 204, 207, 208. 

Care committees, 227. 

Census. See School census. 

Chicago Board of Education, 42 
note, 44, 63, 65, 76, 77, 148, 165, 
166, 167, 203, 219, 408-9, 447; 
extracts from publications of, 
389-401; failure to co-operate 
with state factory inspectors, 78; 
recommendations with regard to 
compulsory education laws, 53- 
58, 60, 63, 70-71, 79-81, 85. See 
also Child Study Department; 
Compulsory Education Depart- 
ment. 

Chicago Health Department, 132; 
Child Hygiene Division of, 178, 
243; medical examination of 
school children by, 177-80, 243. 



Chicago House of Correction. See 
Bridewell. 

Chicago Parental School. See 
Schools. 

Chicago population: congestion of, 
120; nationalities in, 264. 

Chicago Woman's Club, 55, 63, 230, 
457- 

Child Hygiene, Division of, 178, 243. 

Child labor, 44, 59, 74, 295, 299, 300, 
303, 402-30; and compulsory edu- 
cation, 51, 69-88, 28s, 303, 312, 
347, 440-46; and crime, 55, 76, 
79, 85 note, 351; and poverty, 
269,330-32; extent of, in Illinois, 
in 1893-95, 414^16; hours of, 88, 
324,416-19, 443 , 445 ; permissible 
for children necessarily employed, 
lo-ii, 66, 69, 319-31, 347; pres- 
ent extent of, in Illinois, 324-29, 
345- 

Child labor bill, federal, 288. 

Child labor legislation in Illinois, 69- 
88, 285, 317, 318, 440-46; first 
general law, 69; laws of 1877, 
1879, and 1883, 50; law of 1891, 
69; law of 1893, 72, 74, 299, 325; 
law of 1897, 74, 84; law of 1903, 
88. 

Child labor legislation in the United 
States, 287-88. 

Child Study Department, Chicago 
Board of Education, 183, 221, 243, 
303, 334- 

Children's Bureau, 285-86, 287, 
309-14, 339-41- 

Compulsory education : and poverty 
(see Poverty); changes suggested 
in system of, 298, 308, 346, 350; 
history of, in Illinois, 17-88, 354- 
401; legal aspects of, 1-16; legis- 
lation, 51, 53-88, 167, 200-10, 



467 



468 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



284-85, 287-315, 420, 438, 440- 
46; need of, for children between 
fourteen and sixteen, 317-45; 
special Board of Education com- 
mittees on, 56-57, 60, 63, 64, 70- 
71, 79-81, 85. 
Compulsory Education Department, 
Chicago Board of Education, 10, 
II, 13, 61, 77, 79, 80, 81, 89-92, 

105, 131, 14s, 148, 149, i5i> 154- 
56, 175, 176, 182, 193, 201-204, 
209, 215, 216, 217, 222, 223, 237, 
244, 245, 266, 272, 277, 292, 293, 
318, 320, 322, 323, 327, 421. 

Compulsory school attendance, 4, 8, 
40, _46,_ 50, 287, 376, 380; _ age of 
beginning, 316, 348; raising the 
age of, 317-45, 348. See also 
Compulsory education. 

Connecticut employment certificate 
system, 285-86, 309-14, 339-41- 

Constitutional Convention of 1870, 
45- 

Consumers' League of Illinois, 290. 

Continuation schools. See Schools. 

Cook, John W., Educational History 
of Illinois, quoted, 22, 29, 42 note. 

County agent, 137, 138, 158. 

County Court, 12, 290. 

Court. See County; Domestic Re- 
lations; Juvenile; Municipal. 

Crime: and child labor, 55, 76, 79, 
85 note, 351; and illiteracy, 52. 
See also Delinquency. 

Defective children, 177-88. 

Degraded homes, 143-45. 

Delinquency, truancy in relation to, 
163-64, 189-99. See also Crime; 
Wayward children. 

Delinquent Child and the Home, 6, 8, 
124, 145, 176, 267. 

Delinquent girls, 145, 176. 

Dependency, truancy in relation to, 
189-99. ^^^ C'l^o Poverty. 

Domestic Relations Court, 11, 13, 
203, 204, 205. 



Dore, John C, 41. 

Douglas, Stephen A., 26. 

Duncan, Governor Joseph, 28. 

Economic status. See Poverty. 

Education: Convention of Friends 
of, 29, 30, 32-36; free {see 
Schools); Illinois Society, 31; 
land grants for, i, 2, 19-21, 24-25; 
minimum standard of, for working 
children, 303, 312-14, 425; neces- 
sity for the right to, 5, 14, 381, 
387; opposition to American sys- 
tem of, 5; secular v. state control 
of, 3, 5; systems of public, 2. 

Educational Commission of Chicago 
(1898J, 85. 

Educational Convention of Illinois, 
26. 

Educational test for working papers. 
See Literacy. 

Edwards, Ninian W., 38. 

Ellis Island, 269, 274. 

Employment certificates, 287-316, 
320,339; educational test for, 83, 
279, 303-8, 347, . 430; for all 
minors, 295; minimum age for, 
312,317-45; physical fitness as a 
test for, 73, 83, 298-303, 308, 314- 
15, 347, 402-5, 419-20; proof of 
age for, 288-97, 311; state control 
of, 308-10, 347. See also Age- 
and-school certificates. 

Employment Supervision Bureau, 
230, 319-20, 326-29, 332-33, 335, 
338, 345, 349, 350, 351, 455-65- 

"Enabling Act," 1818, 20 

Evening schools, 65, 303. 

Factory inspectors, 73-78, 292, 310, 
318,324; annual reports of , 402-30. 

Ford, Governor Thomas, 22, 33. 

Free schools. See Schools. 

French, Governor, 36. 

Freund, Professor E., The Police 
Power, quoted, 4, 6, 8, 9. 

Friends of Education. See Educa- 
tion. 



INDEX 



469 



Harrison, Mayor, 85. 

Health Department, Chicago. See 
Chicago Health Department. 

Holden School, 94, 102. 

Hours of labor. See Child labor. 

" Housing Problem in Chicago," 120. 

Hull-House, 50, 71-72, 236, 277. 

Hull-House Trade School, 293, 302, 
458, 465- 

Hygiene, Division of Child, 178, 243. 

Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
50, 51, 52, 72. 

Illinois Education Society, 31. 

Illinois Superintendent of Common 
Schools, 34-35, 37- 

Illinois Superintendent of Public In- 
struction, reports of, 22, 26, 27, 
28, 30, 31, 38, 41, 44, 45, 47-48, 
53,68. 

Illiteracy among working children, 
75, 81-82, 349, 405-6, 423-24, 425- 

Immigrant children, loi, 121-22, 
128, 264-86, 331, 333-35, 351. 

Immigrants' Protective League, 
269-72. 

Immigration Commission of Massa- 
chusetts, 265, 267, 281-85. 

Immigration Commission of New- 
York, 267. 

Industrial Schools Act, 256. 

Jackson School, 94, 102. 

John Worthy School, 194, 198, 199. 

Johnson, Harriet, 229 note. 

Jones School, 94, 102, 230, 458. 

Juvenile Court of Cook County, 
131-32, 149, 166, 173, 181, 241, 
242, 245; immigrants in, 266; 
jurisdiction of, 12, 13; law, 86, 
145, 210; number of children 
brought into, 92, 150-56, 176, 
190-91,205; pension department 
of, 133 {see also Widows' pensions) ; 
use of, in outlying towns, 246, 250, 
256; working papers investigated 
by, 288, 290-91. 



Juvenile labor exchanges, 344. See 
also Employment supervision. 

Juvenile Protective Association, 
232-35, 242, 243. 

Keith School, 94, 102. 

Kelley, Mrs. Florence, 72-84, 299, 
402. 

Kindergarten system, proposed ex- 
tension of, 80. 

Knight, George W., Laiid Grants for 
Education, quoted, 20-22, 25. 

Kosciuszko School, 94, 102. 

Kozminski, Charles, 54. 

Labor certificates. See Employment 
certificates. 

Land grants for education, 1,2, 19- 
21, 24-25. 

Legislation. See under Compulsory 

education; Child labor; Schools. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 28. 
Literacy test for working children, 

83, 279, 303-8, 347, 430. 
Lucy Flower Technical High School, 

458, 459, 463. 
McMaster, History of the American 

People, quoted, 18. 

Massachusetts Board of Education 
Reports, quoted, 214, 224. 

Massachusetts Immigration Com- 
mission, 265, 267, 281-85. 
Matteson, Governor, 37, 40. 

Medical certificate clause of child 
labor law, 403-4, 419. See also 
Physical fitness. 

Medical inspection, 177-79, 243. 

"Mendicant and acrobatic act," 50 

note. 
Mental deficiency, 180, 314. 
Mill, John Stuart, Essay on Liberty, 

quoted, 3, 6. 
Mines, child labor in, 50-51. 
Moseley School, 94, 102. 
Mothers' pensioos. See Widows' 

pensions. 



470 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



Municipal Court, Chicago, ii, 12, 
132, 149, 176, 200-210, 320, 322. 

Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium, 
231. 

New York Public Education Asso- 
ciation, 228-29. 

New York School Inquiry Commis- 
sion, quoted, 182-83, 244. 

New York State Commission on Im- 
migration, 267. 

New York State Education Depart- 
ment, quoted, 15, 213-15, 263. 

Non-attendance: and habitual tru- 
ancy, 148-64; and poverty (see 
Poverty); causes of, 128-47; dis- 
tinction between truancy and, 93; 
evil of, 44, 47, 377, 380; extent of , 
in nine Chicago schools, 89-100, 
in two Chicago schools, 114-27, in 
the Chicago suburbs, 245-63; in 
relation to mental and physical 
defects, 177-88; suspension as a 
remedy for, 43, 49, 76-77, 165, 
219; transfer system as a factor 
in, 101-13; visiting teacher as a 
remedy for, 187, 226-44. See also 
Absences. 

Northwest Territory, 19. 

Nurses: school, 178, 180, 227, 243; 

visiting, 131, 134, 135, 231, 236. 
Open-air schools. See Schools. 
Ordinance of 1785, 19. 
Parental rights, theory of, 6, 7, 10, 

387. 
Parental School. See Schools. 
Parents, prosecution of, 8, 11-13, 

54, 63, 65, 77, 78, 8s, 149, 176, 

200-10, 226, 255-56, 422. 
Parochial schools. See Schools. 

Physical defects of school children, 
177-88. 

Physical fitness as a test for working 
papers. See Employment certifi- 
cates. 

Pillsbury, W. L., Early Education in 
Illinois, quoted, 26. 



Pontiac Reformatory, 52, 196. 

Poor Law Commission of 1909, in 
England, 348, 351. 

Poverty: and child labor, 269, 330- 
32; and compulsory education, 
63-64, 70, 123-27, 128-39, 158, 
235-36,321,330-32,352-53- See 
also Dependency. 

Private schools. See Schools. 

Public Education Association of 

New York, 228-29. 
Public schools. See Schools. 
"Ragged schools." 5ee Schools. 

Retardation of truant children, 

180-82. 
Sadler, M. E., Continuation Schools 

in England and Elsewhere, quoted, 

342-43- 
Scholarship Committee, 302. 
Scholarships for children of working 

age, 293, 302, 458. 

School attendance, 9, 10, 42, 65, 94; 
exemption from, 317-45; statis- 
tics relating to, 447-54. See 
also Compulsory school attend- 
ance. 

School census, 76, 211-25, 327, 35°, 
423, 447, 450-51, 454- 

School Children's Aid Society, 64. 

School funds, 22 note, 212, 216, 223, 
263, 347, 362-63, 433, 436- See 
also Land grants; School tax. 

School nurses. See Nurses. 

School tax, 5, 22-25, 29-38, 45, 52, 
363-67, 369-71, 374-76. 

Schools: bilingual, 67-68, 81, 279- 
85; continuation, 342-44, 348, 
349; evening, 65, 303; free, 17- 
39, 45, 354-88, 431; open-air, 
227, 299-302; parental, 9 note, 10, 
12, 13, 62, 85-87, 144, 146, 149-63, 
165-76, 183-87, 191-99, 201, 205, 
226, 242, 245, 322, 347, 350, 455; 
parochial, 4, 66-68, 274, 279-80, 
451-54; private, 4, 68, 91; public, 
4, see also free; "ragged," 43. 



INDEX 



471 



Settlements, 229, 241, 242, 319, 330, 
457. See also Hull-House. 

Skinner School, 94, 102. 

Statistics of: absences, 93, 95, 177-78; 
child labor, 70, 325-38; Juvenile 
Protective Association on school 
cases, 232; parochial schools, 
280; population in Chicago, 120, 
264-65; prosecutions of parents, 
12, 204-6; school attendance, in 
Chicago, 42, 65, 99-100, 390, 
447-54. in Illinois, 40-41, 51, 375; 
school funds, 2, 375; transfers, 
loi, 102, 106; truant officers, 62, 
65, 66, 226; visiting teacher's 
work in New York, 228. See also 
Tables. 

Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames, 14. 

Street trades, 60, 74, 410. 

Subnormal children, 335. 

Subnormal rooms, 181, 186, 188, 
335- 

Suspension as a remedy for non- 
attendance, 43, 49, 76-77, 165, 
219. 

Sweat shops, investigation of, 72, 
415- 

Tables relating to: absences, 97, 98, 
107, 115, 118, 119, causes of, 129, 
179; age and grade of truant boys , 
152, 181; age and school certifi- 
cates, 307; child wage-earners, 
326-27; economic status of fam- 
ilies, 125, 158; elementary schools, 
cost of maintenance, 174; enrol- 
ment in all Chicago schools, 217, 
in nine schools, 96, in parochial 
schools, 452-54, in public schools, 
448-49, 452-54, in two schools, 
115; immigrant children, attend- 
ance of, 270, number manifested, 
271-72; Juvenile Court, truant 
children brought into, 150, 153, 
155, 181; language of home, 122, 
123; nativity of parents, 121; 
non-attendance, reasons for, 129; 
Parental School, 153,156,158, 169, 
174, 184, 185, 190; parental status 
of truants, 126, 159; physical and 



mental condition of truant boys, 
184, 185; prosecutions and warn- 
ing notices, 202; school census, 
217; transferred children, 107; 
truant officers, children reported 
to, 90; truants, 150, 152, 156, 
175, 181, 190. 

Taxation for support of education. 
See School tax. 

Tennyson School, 94, 102. 

Thomas School, 94, 102. 

Transfer system as a factor in non- 
attendance, 101-13. 

Truancy: and dependency and de- 
linquency, 189-99; 3,nd mental 
and physical defects of school 
children, 177-88; definition of, 
148; extent of, 89-100, 396-99; 
important factors in problem of, 
158; in the Chicago suburbs and 
other parts of Illinois, 245-63; 
need of state agency for, 263; 
prosecution of defiant parents in 
case of {see Parents, prosecution 
of). 

Truant: from comfortable home, 
160; habitual, and schoolroom in- 
corrigible, 148-64; provision for, 
outside of Chicago, 245; record- 
keeping of, 252. 

Truant girl, 129, 148, 150, 153, 176, 
205-6, 350, 457- 

Truant officers, 12, 13, 62, 65, 66, 82, 
90, 148, 166, 202, 224, 226, 244, 
269, 421; in outlying towns of 
Illinois, 245, 249-51, 259-62, 
276. 

Truant rooms, 172-73, 219. 

Truant schools. See Schools, pa- 
rental. 

United Charities of Chicago, 11, 
131-35, 158, 234-40, 277-79, 291, 
307, 457- 

United States Bureau of Education, 
211. 

United States Commissioner-General 
of Immigration, 265, 351. 



472 TRUANCY AND NON-ATTENDANCE IN CHICAGO 



United States Commissioner of Edu- 
cation, 2. 

Visiting Nurses Association, 131, 231. 
See also Nurses. 

Visiting teacher, a remedy for tru- 
ancy and non-attendance, 187, 
226-44; in New York, 228-29. 

Vocational guidance. See Employ- 
ment Supervision Bureau. 

Vocational Supervision Bureau. See 
Employment Supervision Bureau. 
Washburne School, 457. 



Waywar children, 43, 61, 62, 71, 76, 

147 5. See also Delinquency. 
Webb, Sidney, quoted, 7 note. 
Widows' pensions, 133, 139, 232, 

240, 302, 331. 
Woolley and Fischer, Mental and 

Physical Measurements of Working 

Children, 314-15. 
Working children. See Child labor. 
Working papers. See Employment 

certificates. 
Young, Mrs. Ella Flagg, 188, 458, 460. 



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